Till You Die
by Mersea
Summary: MadaraOC. He was known as the most powerful shinobi in the Fire Country. She was a simple girl, not even a ninja. It was a romance she did not even initiate, yet he would have her pay for it, a price in blood. Pre-canon.
1. Prologue

**Warning:** I'm not sure if this is a "dark" fic anymore, but it is by no means_ just_ a casual read. Please proceed at your own discretion.

This story is **rated M** for more than the obvious reason alone. Be warned that at some points it _will _live up to its primary 'Angst' genre rating.

**Spoilers** if you haven't gotten to time-skip of the Naruto manga/anime.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

* * *

**Till You Die**

_Prologue_

* * *

"Tonight."

"Hime, please keep still."

The difference between their ages was by two years. Yet, it was hard to tell. Yuzuzu-hime had already seen seventeen summers, and was possibly the single-most pampered princess the fire country had to offer. But, even if Loreli thought that, she thought it in a fond way.

"Your hair is growing longer," her mistress said thoughtfully as she observed in the mirror's reflection as Loreli inserted hairpins into the princess's long black hair. "I bet you can almost pass as my sister if you're in disguise."

Loreli gave a small smile as she worked. "I will trim it again soon. It's not proper here for servants to wear their hair long like the nobles."

"What! You look best with long hair!"

The sudden jolt her mistress gave caused a few pins to drop out. She would have to redo the hair.

"You may need to work on your composure if you want to make a good impression tonight, Yuzuzu-hime," Loreli pointed out.

Pout. The princess stared with uncharacteristic quiet at her own reflection.

…

"…You will do it, right?"

"Of course, as you commanded me, Yuzuzu-hime," Loreli replied. Final twist of the hair. Done.

"He is a ninja."

"I won't be found out," Loreli reassured her.

A lie, most likely. If luck was with her, it'd probably be passed off as a harmless prank. She had tested for poison earlier, and there hadn't been a trace.

"Are you ready, Hime?" Loreli asked, stepping back to allow her mistress room.

"I will create an opening for you," the princess told her.

Loreli smiled and did not comment. "Let's go make your grand entrance to tonight's banquet, Hime-sama."

* * *

Two feuding families. A hatred fueled by bloodshed. Both sides have started resorting to hiring ninjas to settle the score since decades ago. Stronger, crueler, deadlier clans of ninjas were employed one after the other, each in hopes to break this costly stalemate.

"I, daughter of Yukama, welcome you to our estate, Uchiha Madara-sama."

Very prettily said. The princess was in the very image of how a well-bred lord's daughter should appear. From beside her, and standing slightly in the back with her head bowed as a servant should be, Loreli breathed an inward sigh of relief.

The greeting was acknowledged by a curt nod, evident to Loreli by the rise and fall of long spiked hair. Experience had taught her that most ninja did not appreciate being watched, but she didn't need to look up to know that the leader of the Uchiha clan was every bit as the rumor says. Even if the princess's father was to be his employer for this war, Uchiha Madara did not see himself as inferior.

No, in fact, he might very well know that the cost of a victory depended on his decision to accept this offer or not.

Without a word or a backwards glance the tall man passed by them towards the great halls, closely followed by his highest councilors, their powerful frames signifying that they were undoubtedly all excellent shinobi.

Her young mistress was biting her thumbnail, a nervous habit she still hadn't gotten rid of.

"Hime-"

"I like him!" Yuzuzu-hime said abruptly, surprising her. "He's exactly like how I thought he would be!"

A tug on her sleeves. Her young mistress gazed up with sparkling eyes. "I'm counting on you, Loreli."

Loreli closed her eyes briefly. Really, if she said it like that, there was no way she would accept a failure.

She glanced back to another of the princess' servants, notifying her to take over the job of caring for Yuzuzu-hime this evening.

With a small bow Loreli excused herself from the princess' side.

Being Yuzuzu-hime's constant companion, it wasn't strange for her to be seen at various unexpected places of the castle, running strange errands. None of the guards or other servants stopped her while she directly made her way around the banquet hall towards the left side, where the feudal lord's guests of honor were seated.

The male servant currently servicing Madara's table raised an inquisitive eyebrow upon turning back to a tap on his left shoulder.

"They said they don't need food testers," the male servant informed.

"Yuzuzu-hime's orders," Loreli replied simply. "You may leave."

Realization dawned in his eyes. "Oh." Their young mistress's mischievous nature was well known. They didn't even question it anymore.

"Well, make sure he has plenty of this," the servant replied, placing the silver wine jug into her arms, "the lord is counting on getting him into an agreeable mood."

The two exchanged a small smirk, aware that such a desperate method had no effect on a ninja.

"Good luck," the other servant whispered as he left. She'd probably need it.

On the surface, though, Loreli was calm and steady. It was true that the many bizarre errands she ran for the princess had numbed her to the prospect of getting caught, but they had never taken place in a grand event such as this.

She felt her heartbeat, each one a heavy thump in her chest despite its even pace.

If Uchiha Madara had noticed the change in servants, he showed nothing. Currently speaking with a loud, authoritarian voice towards the conversation between him and the feudal lord, the leader of the Uchiha had one arm draped on his risen knee, in a slight laid-back position as if he alone wielded all the power in this negotiation.

Although Loreli did not pay attention to what was being said – as she was taught not to do – it was clear to her as it was clear to the feudal lord's advisors on the other side of the great hall that despite being only twenty years of age, Madara held an influence over his clan which went beyond his abilities as a ninja alone. For the majority of the speaking on their side, it was Madara who spoke, with his councilors adding in occasionally.

Without looking, Madara brought his arm back, holding out his cup for a refill.

The gesture shouldn't have startled her, but it did. Was it because she was starting to suspect that he wouldn't be the type to let things go so easily?

Calmly, Loreli refilled his cup for him.

Not yet.

It helped that the negotiations seemed to have taken a wrong turn, and a few voices began rising with agitation.

It helped that as the most important guest, Uchiha Madara had been seated at the very end, closest to the feudal lord's right-handed side.

It helped also that he didn't seem to care who was serving him and that he didn't even glance down at his wine before sipping it.

But Madara himself was growing silent, letting the debate to go in its own direction.

Was it good enough? Would he notice it?

The cue was given to her in the guise of a piercing scream across the room.

"A spider! A spider!" Yuzuzu-hime continued to yell hysterically as servants rushed forth.

That must be the "opening" her mistress planned to give her. All eyes were diverted at this point.

In one small quick action, Loreli drew out the tiny bottle from within her sleeve and dumped its contents into the wine jug in her arm.

An order was an order. She could only pray that nothing big would come out of this act.

* * *

_-The day before-_

"Hime…"

"Shhh…" The young girl spun around quickly, a finger pressed to her pouting lips. _"I told you not to address me by that while we're outside!" _her young mistress reminded her in a fierce whisper.

Hesitation, but Loreli held her tongue. It was not her place to advice the only daughter of their feudal lord against the mischievous expedition which she had impulsively chosen to undertake.

She was, after all, the princess's closest servant, and ever since the early years of their childhood, Loreli had been the princess's only friend.

"_I think this is the place! Loreli! This is the place!" _princess Yuzuzu whispered excitedly, unaware that her whispering was drawing more attention due to her possessing a voice which carried rather easily.

Nonetheless, even if they were recognized, no harm would befall them there. Unknown to her mistress, Loreli had always informed the captain of the guards whenever Yuzuzu-hime decided to sneak outside the castle walls. Mutual trust was one thing, but having sworn a blood oath to devote everything to serving the princess meant that the well-being of her mistress was to be Loreli's top priority.

It was dark behind the curtains, and dank. The scent of cheap incense.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask her mistress to forget this idea again, but at that instant a low "welcome" came seemingly out of nowhere and caused Yuzuzu-hime to back into her in startlement.

A withered figure. An old crone with uncanny blue eyes, their large size emphasized by the fact that the bags beneath her eyes were sagging with age.

"Ah, an unexpected guest…" the old woman observed. Her voice did not match up with her appearance, sounding younger than she looked. Her tone was civil, neither welcoming nor repulsive.

Regardless, the princess swallowed loud enough for Loreli to hear from behind when the old woman reached out a claw-like hand and beckoned for them to come closer.

"You have need for my services?"

All her life, the princess was used to hearing those below her offering their services. Upon hearing those words, Loreli's mistress managed to regain some composure.

"There is a rumor. Rumor has it that you…can create a potion."

"Ah…" Two wrinkly hands clasped together. "Do you have a love interest, young one? A love gained by potion is not the same as a love gained by trust."

"_Hime…"_ Loreli whispered pleadingly, barely loud enough for herself to hear.

Her mistress glanced back, eyes alit with excitement. "Do you not know who we're talking about here!?" Yuzuzu-hime spoke urgently, forgetting to keep her voice down. "The great Uchiha Madara! The greatest clan of them all! Even with all our resources, we won't have enough to hire them to last out this entire feud. But if their leader falls in love with me-…"

"…Oh, he will fall in love with you with this," came the interruption from the crone. "Deeply in love." Her voice lowered for effect. "He will want to be with you every second of every hour. He will become jealous if you even glance at another man. His body, his soul, he will devote his everything to you."

Loreli did not believe such things as love potions existed. She been unaffected by all this, only regarding it as another of Yuzuzu-hime's childish schemes, and yet…slowly, a tingling feeling of unease started at the base of her abdomen and spiraled its way up like a vine.

"Oh- I can't- Loreli, can you even imagine him behaving like that towards me!" the young princess practically swooned. "Oh! Do show me, show me it!"

It was a small container. A small, dark bottle the size of her thumb. The sight of it somewhat allowed Loreli relief.

The diminutive size of the "potion" simply reminded her of the incredulousness of the old woman's claim. Unfathomable, that something so small can have such potent effects.

"Is this it? This is it, isn't it?" her mistress's eagerness diminished none.

"Yes…" the old woman answered unhurriedly, "however…"

"Loreli," the princess commanded her.

Untying the bundle of cloth she cradled at her side, Loreli poured the contents onto the rackety wooden desk before them. Trinkets, baubles, and jewelry of all sorts spilled forth in a heap of gold and colours.

"Will this do?" Yuzuzu-hime inquired with a haughty air, confident that the crone living in such a poor area of the town had never seen anything close to such worth.

A small chuckle. With a small wave of dismissal towards the offering, the old woman shook her head.

"Oh, no, my dear. I have no need for any of this."

Her young mistress looked momentarily stunned, before sporting a small frown on her pretty face.

"Then, what do you want?" Yuzuzu-hime asked with slight impatience evident in her countenance.

Another chuckle. Loreli was prepared to step in and halt the whole thing if it went too far. But the next words the old woman spoke were unexpected.

"The potion, I give out for free to all who come to seek it."

"Huh? Really? Then…"

Two talon-like fingers reached forward and placed the small bottle into the center of the princess's palms.

"Here…take it…"

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"Have the man you so adore drink this potion, and the first person he will kiss will mark his destiny. But remember…if you choose to use this potion and later regret your decision…" the old woman warned.

"I won't! I won't!" Loreli's young mistress insisted joyously. "I hear that Uchiha Madara is renowned as the most handsome man in the land of fire, and strong!"

"…the antidote…" the old woman went on regardless that Yuzuzu-hime wasn't paying any more heed to her words "…will cost you dearly."

* * *

Long, black waves twitched, jerking Loreli out of her thoughts.

He was holding out his cup again.

The center of her palms felt moist. It wasn't that she was superstitious. It was because an act like this would be a serious offense if caught.

It was fine. She had devoted her whole life to serving the princess. If anything went wrong, she would take full responsibility.

Nonetheless, it couldn't be denied that her arms felt weak as she poured the wine into his cup.

A typical poison would change colour in silver, and it was a silver jug used. As Loreli had tested before, there was no colour change.

Will he really take it?

There was noise and laughter as everyone watched Yuzuzu-hime get settled. All that was drowned out by the thumping in her ears.

Madara raised the cup to his lips.

…

"What you slipped into the wine just now, was it poison?"

Loreli shut her eyes, attempting to calm herself.

His voice, dark and sinister, forceful. She was chilled to the bone.

A light drawl to his words. A threatening aura. "What are you? An assassin from the Senju?"

He shifted, glancing back with arrogant cold eyes. For the first time she got a good look at him.

A blade. A black diamond. Something sharp and unrelenting yet captures the morbid allure which lies in danger.

A handsome man. Deadly. Intent.

He awaited her reply with unblinking dark eyes. If she delayed an answer, it would draw attention.

"…You caught me." Loreli tried her best to maintain a steady gaze. He would be searching for subtle signs of a lie.

"It is poison," Loreli lied with a straight face. "Do you dare to drink it?"

…

She couldn't breathe. She waited for him to give her the cup, to tell her to drink the "poison".

"…Heh." Madara's lips twisted upwards in a dark smirk. Loreli watched, stunned, as the man threw back his head, long mane rippling with the motion, downing the cup in one gulp.

What-

Thick black bangs fell back into place over his face as he straightened. A long eyebrow rose as he held the cup before her, upside down, as if to prove that the contents were gone.

"Satisfied?"

…

Voiceless, Loreli could only nod.

What was going on? Was she really that obvious a liar?

Hesitation. She excused herself, suspecting that she wouldn't be able to endure his piercing dark eyes any longer.

Uchiha Madara signaled the one seated nearest to him while watching the girl's retreating figure coldly. Of course the other Uchiha had been aware of everything that went on at his leader's side.

Madara narrowed his eyes. "Show her why you don't attempt to mess with an Uchiha."

"Yes, Madara-sama."


	2. Murderous Tango

**A/N:** I just realized a part in the prologue might've been confusing. To clarify, Loreli is 19. **Madara is 20 in this story. Timeline begins prior to the formation of Konoha.**

You're probably wondering why Madara seems unconcerned about consuming poison. Hmm…hmm…hmmmm…it'll be revealed eventually. If I ever get there.

* * *

**Till You Die**

1 - _Murderous Tango_

* * *

The impact was loud, almost a thunderclap, resounding inside her head.

Loreli choked, spitting out blood onto the tangle of her hair.

A hand yanked her up by the hair; her scalp felt like it was on fire.

"Who sent you?" A malicious demand.

Eyes closed firmly, she simply shook her head once. To either side, the sound of other servants' screams and the shuffling of feet.

Unbelievable, to do this out in the open where there were plenty around to witness.

As if reading that thought of hers, the man—one of _them_; fair-skinned and ebony-haired – jerked her back by the hair so that her ear was exposed to his scathing words.

"I think you are misunderstanding something."

A strangled gasp escaped her throat. Her arm was twisted behind her back; tighter and tighter until she was forced to crack open her eyes in pain.

Murderous red eyes. Eyes of a demon.

"The outcome of this war will depend on our leader's decision. A loss of one or two servants…" a hissing whisper "…will be overlooked by your lord."

Breathing uneven, her lungs struggling to keep up after the blows they received earlier.

Even if he put it like that, the negotiations should remain unaffected by all this. There_ wasn't_ any poison in there. They would have no grounds for accusation. _He_ would have no evidence to suspect their side.

The only thing she would have to do is cover up for Yuzuzu-hime, regardless of how trivial the matter was. At the cost of her life, if it must.

"No one sent me."

A rough hand grabbed hold of her jaw, long fingers prying her mouth open.

"You won't talk? I guess you won't be needing this then."

Piercing pain. Excruciating. The scent of blood filled her nostrils. Loreli struggled to keep her airway open.

Her hand was snatched away from covering her mouth. He pressed the razor-sharp edge of what she believed was called a kunai to her fingers.

"Will you write? Or shall I carve up your fingers as well?"

She shook her head again, harder this time.

"So be it," he snarled.

A wave of cold swept through her.

A slap to her face, but it was a light slap.

"Loreli."

Slowly, very slowly, she absorbed the familiar face of the captain of the guards.

"Kata-"

She gasped, inhaling short abrupt breaths and feeling as though she'd been without air.

Two things hit her simultaneously. One, she'd just spoken. Two, the pain – the most pain she'd ever felt in her life – was not present, although it was not completely absent.

"That man just now-…" Loreli said shakily, glancing around in confusion.

All around them, things were going about as usual.

…

"Who was it? Did you get a good look?" the captain was asking.

_An illusion. _She was still trying to wrap her mind around that. Never before had she experienced anything of the sort, but she'd heard of them.

"No…I'm just…" Loreli made move to stand, and he made room for her. There were things she wanted to tell him, but she knew they could be watched.

She made move to get up. He gave room.

It was a cold night, but that wasn't the reason why her knees felt shaky.

"I wasn't feeling so well. I'm fine, now, however." Loreli gave Katamori a small pat on his cheek. "Go back to your post."

"Hey-"

She glanced back.

He ran a hand through his hair in resignation. "It's nothing."

* * *

She didn't have to go back inside.

Loreli just made it to the front steps when_ they_ strode out, at a brisk and condemning pace.

"Madara-sama, please wait-" a chorus of voices called after him.

She froze, completely still. The aura which enveloped the leader of the Uchiha clan at that moment…was so menacing that it was poisonous.

A sudden halt of to his step. A long pause.

Out of all the other servants with similar hairstyle and the same attire, he was able to recognize her. Loreli steeled herself and raised her head.

A glance of displeasure to his side; a look which clearly said 'What do you mean by leaving her alive?' to the Uchiha next to him.

Cold, her skin felt very cold.

Uchiha Madara was truly a frightening presence.

"Uchiha-sama," Loreli addressed him, her heart in her throat, "you will not be staying the night?"

Red eyes slimmed maliciously.

Heh. The people here truly thought they had more than one life to live. If they possessed a single shred of sanity, they would have known better than to try to get him to reconsider the moment he had activated the Sharingan.

And now this.

He all but ripped his gloves off his hands, revealing long slender fingers. With an equally violent motion, Madara slapped the gloves into the Uchiha beside him, indicating that he should hold on to them.

Before she could even blink, one cool hand was squeezed around her throat, the thrust being so fast that her eyes failed to keep up.

Madara had absolute confidence in his grip. Snapping her neck would only take him a split second. Maybe that would get his point across to all of them.

Her pulse against the palm of his hand. Her breathing shallow. Some fear she couldn't keep hidden behind her eyes pacified him a little.

She swallowed. "…I will take that as a 'no'."

No, her composure reminded him of the one thing he needed to take care of before he left.

Someone here picked a bad time to _dare_ an attempt to slight him. He would get it out of her.

With a jerk of his arm, the shinobi flung her back, releasing her. "Show me to my room," Madara commanded.

"Madara-sama?" a few of his councilors inquired in disbelief.

As shinobi, it was rare for them to make a personal trip to meet clients, unless it was something big like this, but it was even rarer to accept an offer to stay as guests, which their leader had refused a bit earlier.

"I changed my mind," the long-haired leader of the Uchiha drawled lightly, as if daring anyone to raise a question. No one did.

"Please, this way, Uchiha-sama."

Loreli did not raise her eyes to see, but she suspected that none of the other servants present would want to be in her place right then.

She took the lead, they following. It wasn't a pleasant thing to experience, back turned while expecting a blow at any moment.

He spoke. She felt an involuntary jolt at the sound of his dark voice.

"You are surprisingly calm, for someone in your situation," Uchiha Madara observed snidely. Loreli turned her head a fraction to note that he had come up slightly to the side, no longer walking directly behind her. The way a predator would stalk a prey, observing its behavioral patterns.

"Is poisoning someone's cup something you're used to?"

Loreli fought a violent urge to shudder. If she started shivering, she suspected that she wouldn't be able to stop.

"Heh. You're not going to speak?"

A flashback, to a scene where another red-eyed man had tore out her tongue.

She swallowed, but kept silent.

All of a sudden she felt her hair pulled back, forcing her to look up into arrogant red eyes.

How-? She was sure that he was still behind her just a split second ago…!

"I'm guessing the reason why you didn't run away is because you are prepared to give up your life for your master," Uchiha Madara spoke down to her harshly.

The sound of a blade being drawn. He trailed the tip of a kunai down one side of her face, tracing down her neck, suffocating her, slicing through the fabric and finally resting the point at the center of her chest.

"A severely disfigured servant cannot serve anyone," he told her cruelly, a threat.

Her eyes were closed. She was afraid. She tried not to listen.

Keeping the kunai poised over her heart, Madara leaned forward, long strands of his untamed hair brushing her skin and causing her to flinch.

"…The scent of northern rain. If I'm not mistaken, the feudal lord's daughter was wearing this perfume this evening."

Her heart fluttered uncontrollably within her chest. He- no…no, no no-

"Ah," his breath still caressing her skin, as he hadn't pulled away. "Your heartbeat's erratic."

"That is because, I-"

He wasn't about to listen to excuses.

Madara flung her down, like a rag doll.

"Hmph. This place sickens me."

He faced his councilors.

"What do you want to do, Madara-sama?"

"Please, she-" Loreli touched his leg unintentionally. Immediately she knew it was a grave mistake. Nonetheless, she pleaded with him. "-I didn't mean any harm. I-… I just wanted you to notice me."

A kick sent her away, and by no means a light kick.

Loreli coughed, lifting herself back up painfully. "It is the truth…"

She had messed up. Terribly. What a disgrace she was.

The red gaze which met hers…was unbelievably cold.

"Get rid of this bitch."

Two of Madara's followers came forward, each grabbing one of her arms.

"Please, believe me!"

She did not have enough strength to struggle. There was no way she could free herself from two strong shinobi anyway. They were able to drag her without much resistance.

No, this wasn't happening. What was he planning to do to Yuzuzu-hime?

As if to answer her thoughts, one of her to-be executioners spoke.

"Your mistress is about to learn that no one attempts to mess with an Uchiha and gets away with it."

Should she scream? Would anyone come?

"Don't worry." Mockingly. "When a ninja does anything, it is done discreetly."

A hand clapped over her mouth, at the same time forcing her to crane her neck.

The flash of a blade from the edge of her vision.

She succumbed to darkness.

* * *

They say death is cold. For the longest time that seemed to be the only sensation she felt. Then she perceived what sounded like hushed voices.

Light, blinding light.

"Loreli!"

Completely rigid, lying still, Loreli tried to take in her surroundings.

"Good, she's awake!"

"Loreli-san…"

She glanced at the familiar faces. In a daze, she slowly sat up.

The pack of ice fell from her cheek into her lap.

"Do you recall anything, Loreli-san? Katamori-san said you had a hard fall last night."

"Yeah…" she croaked and coughed. Someone held out a glass of water for her, which she took gratefully.

"Where is Yuzuzu-hime?" Loreli asked as soon as she could speak.

"Waiting for you, of course. If you had gotten up any later we might've had to tell her that you are indisposed today."

"Where is the captain?"

Sly glances exchanged. "I believe he's still waiting for you outside in the courtyard. By the way, why were you two-"

Loreli threw her blanket aside, thankful to see that the others have changed her clothing for her.

"I'll go tell him I am fine."

Hands held her back.

"Wait a minute, Loreli…_like this?_"

Confusion.

Someone held out a mirror in front of her helpfully.

A dark bruise covered a good portion of one side of her face.

That was right…it had happened.

Coincidently, at that thought the rest of her aches and pains came back, causing her to grimace.

"It's alright, Loreli! We'll take care of this!"

"What are you-"

The other female servants practically swarmed her. Knowing laughter.

"It's not everyday you get an excuse to outshine the princess. Let's make you look good!"

"This isn't neces-"

…

* * *

"Where are we going- wait, why are we running?"

Loreli panted, hand-signaling that she needed to breathe before explaining.

She was just about to tell him that she had a horde of female servants tailing her, eager to eavesdrop, but a sharp pain laced up her leg and caused her to wince.

He went down, lifting a corner of her skirt to see the swelling at her ankle.

"I must've sprained my ankle during that fall last night," Loreli commented with a shaky laugh.

"Yuzuzu-hime really chose the wrong person to mess with this time," Katamori agreed.

"What happened last night?" she asked him.

"You passed out before it happened, but it didn't seem like they wanted a commotion. We didn't manage to catch them."

Really… That was better than nothing…

"What do you want to do?" the captain of the guards asked her. "Should we report it to the higher-ups?"

…

No, that wasn't a good idea. They had no evidence towards who the assaulters were. Plus, it was as one of them said; the feudal lord was desperate enough to overlook anything minor.

Leaves danced as they fell from the nearby trees in the courtyard.

"I will…make sure no harm comes to the princess."

"No one cares for the princess like you do," he remarked, causing her to look down on him. It was a warm remark, his voice always so gentle towards her.

"I was chosen because I resembled her mother when she was young. Perhaps I have grown to see Yuzuzu-hime as a sister as well."

Katamori laughed, handsome eyes squinting. He rose up, brushing back a stray strand of her hair.

"Just between the two of us, I'll tell you that everyone in the barracks knows that you can be prettier than the princess if you try."

"…Aren't we going off topic?"

…

From third floor, a pair of half-lidded watched the exchange with a lazy red glow.

"That is the one?"

"Yes, Madara-sama. He is the one who interrupted both times. It appears he is the captain of the feudal lord's guards."

"A mere soldier."

"Forgive us, Madara-sama. We did not wish to act without instructions."

He observed the two for a while longer, watching as a faint red glow – diminished by the layer of powder the girl had on – stole across her cheeks as she smiled at the captain of the guards.

"Heh. I see."

"Madara-sama?"

"The princess's invitation," Madara said with red eyes smirking cruelly, "I'll be accepting it."

* * *

"Loreli, thank goodness you're here," the other girl said, face full of apology.

"I understand. No one else is willing to do this, right?" Loreli shook her head knowingly.

"Yuzuzu-hime will be grateful to you."

…

Loreli wasn't so sure about that.

It was unfortunate that she arrived late. If there had been an opportunity, she would have used it to persuade Yuzuzu-hime to forget this whole scheme.

For now, though, she'd have to concentrate on looking natural as she entered the chamber where Yuzuzu-hime entertained her guests.

_He_ was there.

His _entire posse_ was there.

From the instant she set foot into the sunlit room the intensity of his gaze was on her. Her arms faltered, but Loreli quickly regained her balance.

"Forgive my imprudence, Hime-sama. I kept you waiting."

She sat the tray down next to Yuzuzu-hime's low table, astonished at the close proximity it was to Uchiha Madara's table directly across from hers.

The rest of the entering servants went to the other guests.

Creating an opening would be easy. According to what the old woman said, all it would take is an opportunity for Yuzuzu-hime's and his lips to touch.

But there were two problems with that.

Firstly…love potions don't exist…do they?

Secondly…there would be hell to pay if it didn't work.

Her sprained ankle pained her in her kneeling position, but that was nothing compared to the tension she felt within her at the moment.

"By the way, where were you last night?" Yuzuzu-hime was asking her.

Without glancing up, Loreli made an answer directed at the long-haired Uchiha.

"I hope that you were able to find your way to your rooms, Uchiha-sama."

He smirked. She didn't see it, but she could no doubt feel it.

"It wasn't too difficult. But this castle is big. Perhaps the princess would care to show me around after this. Just the two of us."

…

There was no reason for her to take the bait. Yuzuzu-hime would be ecstatic, hearing this. The two of them alone would, after all, provide more opportunities for her mistress's plot.

But Loreli couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling.

It was like…that was said to target her specifically.

Testing her reaction.

Yuzuzu-hime caught her eye.

Do it.

…

Loreli closed her eyes briefly.

Her life was going to be forfeit after this.

"Uchiha-sama," Loreli addressed him calmly, resigned. "This tea is brewed from fine herbs found only in the Wind Country. Please be careful, it's hot."

Yes, right as she said that, Loreli tipped the cup forward and "accidentally" spilt the scalding contents over him.

At which point Yuzuzu-hime was meant to rush forward and see to the damage done, and to somehow steal a kiss from him in the process.

But his reaction was faster. No, it was_ immediate_.

The tableware shook violently as he shot up from his seat, his followers mimicking the action in quick succession.

Pure, unadulterated rage. Sharingan spinning wildly.

Her arm, within his agonizing grip, she was sure it was going to snap if he applied just a tad more pressure on it.

It was so painful, her vision blurred. Then it was swirling madly.

Madara had flung her back, straight into two of his men.

"Take this bitch to my room!" Madara snapped, his voice cutting through the air, sharp as a knife.

"Madara-sama, _please_-" her mistress's distressed voice. Several other cries of horror.

If they weren't rough all those other times, they sure were rough at that point, half-dragging her openly through the corridors of the castle where stunned servants stared on.

Loreli bit back the pain and refused to make a sound. No one would be able to help her, not when it had come down to this.

Once there, they tossed her to the floor. She made no attempt to defend herself from their blows.

It wasn't the first time in her life that she got beaten. Being responsible for Yuzuzu-hime's safety meant that she was partially to blame whenever her mistress got lost or injured. Even so, great care had been taken so that none of it showed on her face or hands, which could be seen by Yuzuzu-hime.

But these men were brutal.

"That's enough. Leave us."

…

The room cleared, save for one person. The most dangerous one of them all.

Footsteps. The tall, long-haired shinobi made his way over.

"Get up."

An order.

One foot, lifting her chin up from the cold wooden floor.

"You didn't hear me?"

She used her arms, struggling valiantly to a kneeling position. That was the best she could manage without looking utterly pathetic.

Loreli waited, with lowered eyes, for his hit to come. She knew it would be much crueler, much harder than the ones dealt to her by his men.

Cool fingers slipped under her chin, tilting it up.

"Aren't you wondering what I might do to you?" Madara's low, merciless voice flowed through her.

Her mouth sealed shut.

…

"Undress me."

She felt it. All the blood draining from her face.

"Since you spilled it on me, you'll wash it off."

He spoke as if it were business, a simple exchange. She felt her body grow cold.

Languidly, Madara backed up a few steps, watching her small frame.

Minutes passed. Loreli blinked hard and got up, trembling.

One step, that was as far as she could command her own body to go.

"What's wrong?" he asked lightly, challengingly. "I give you permission to touch me."

Loreli dared to raise her eyes to meet his.

Imposing presence. Long, regal eyebrows. Straight, arrogant nose. Sharp, powerful jawline.

The eyes of a king.

She understood exactly what was going on then.

Uchiha Madara was forcing her to reveal her deceit.

…

Loreli lowered her eyes.

Knowing his intention did wonders to her courage. If he wanted to play superior, all she needed to do was to be herself.

"Please, Uchiha-sama, I will prepare the bath first."

His consent came in the form of silence. Loreli bowed lightly and allowed her servant's instincts to take over. If she kept moving, it would keep her mind off certain things, like the pain.

Leaning over the wooden tub caused her side to hurt. To add to her suffering, those intense red eyes followed her every movement.

Soon the steam rose from the hot water, helping to ease some of her aches.

Hesitantly, she turned to face him, hands clasped tightly before her.

Uchiha Madara was a tall man. A clear head taller than she was. With his tumbling black hair and sleek black attire, his sharp features and his dark merciless lips, he looked the very image of a god of war.

He didn't help her very much when she drew up the hem of his shirt and relieved him of his top, a difficult task considering how much taller he was.

Many times in her life she'd seen a half-naked man.

It simply did not equate this.

Loreli closed her eyes, so that she wouldn't need to see the rise and fall of his chest as she reached her arms around his waist to untie the sash which served as his belt.

She felt his pants slide loose the same time a hand grasped her around the throat.

Her eyes shot open in startlement as he forced her to back up, until her legs came up against the edge of the wooden tub.

His voice, soft and contemptuous, next to her ear. "Is this the reaction of someone who claims that she only wanted my attention?"

Her mind out of control. Her heart skipping irregularly. She couldn't meet his eyes, else her heart stopping altogether.

"You are a liar," Uchiha Madara accused her scathingly.

"I-"

"Look up!" the Uchiha commanded sharply.

Loreli flinched at his biting tone, and looked up to see him leaning in, his lips mere inches away from her own.

Eyes wide in realization. No. He wouldn't- She couldn't—

Immediately covering her mouth with both hands, she panicked. So much so that when she pushed against him - and failing to budge him with her strength – she fell splashing into the tub behind her.

Gasping for breath, she watched his cold and arrogant expression with droplets of water running down her lashes.

Right away Loreli realized in horror that she had just shown him all he needed to know.

There simply was no explanation to why someone who claimed herself in love with him would react so violently like that.

Tears, threatening her voice. She prayed they'd be disguised by the haze. "…Forgive me…I did not expect-"

None of the harshness in his blood red eyes thawed, but a knowing smirk curled one corner of his lips.

"Kiss me, and see if you can convince me."

* * *

**...**

**...A/N: **O.o ;; …Yeah I might've taken Madara to the extreme. But it's…more fun…I guess… It's all for the drama, the drama!


	3. Hellfire and Ashes

**A/N:** I did put up a warning saying this is a dark/angsty fic, didn't I?

Forcing me out of my comfort zone…T.T

* * *

**Till You Die**

2 – _Hellfire and Ashes_

* * *

"Kiss me, and see if you can convince me."

Of course, he had no actual intention of letting her touch her lips to his. But her response was something even Madara did not anticipate.

Gently, eyes closed in sufferance, the girl shook her head.

Lightly. "You won't?"

Her eyelids trembling. His red eyes narrowing at her next words.

"…Pardon my impertinence," she whispered, "I cannot."

One hand, to the back of her neck, forcefully lifting her out of the water to face him.

"Do you not know who I am?" the leader of the Uchiha clan asked softly down at her, dangerous. His breath fanned against the sensitive skin on her exposed neck. He had drawn her forward into an awkward, arching position before him, as close as she could possibly get without actual contact.

"I am Uchiha Madara!" Low malicious voice, rising in spite. "The fate of this entire castle is at my command!"

She had flinched at his dark reminder. Her breathing was quick and shallow.

"…_Please…_" she spoke, pleading with her hands yet afraid to touch him "…anything else, I will do."

Quiet. The dripping of water.

She inhaled sharply as he roughly reached a hand to her collar and tore the wet cloth, exposing her shoulders.

It looked like she was the type to bruise easily. Spots of blue, purple, and green decorated her skin. A trickle of bright red blood leaked down her lips, painting them red. Someone had hit one side of her nose, hard enough to cause it to bleed.

Slowly, deliberately, Madara brushed his long fingers across her throat, trailing upwards, behind her ear, fisting her hair. He held her in place as he bent his head, leaning in, his long hair cascading over her bare skin.

"If you shed even a single tear or dare to lose consciousness," he told her softly in warning, directly next to her ear, "I will not forgive you."

Loreli was about to lose consciousness right then. Spots of black, white and grey dotted the corners of her vision. It was getting too humid, her mind too sluggish.

Mutely, she nodded in response.

He released her, returning her breathing space.

…

The sound of her ragged breath.

With a conceited smirk, Madara folded his long, well-toned arms. "If you can satisfy me," he said, smooth as silk, "I will forget everything."

She did not believe him.

But whether she believed him or not made no difference to the Uchiha. He had her in his absolute control and was taking pleasure in making her aware of it.

Waiting.

Loreli raised her eyes, meeting his intense red eyes briefly before flinching and averting her gaze elsewhere. She had never been with a man.

She couldn't stop her fingers from trembling, touching his arm lightly, drawing closer, running her hand along the harsh, bold lines of his frame, the hard muscles on his shoulder, his warm smooth neck, his long black mane which did not tangle up despite its appearance. All the while she kept her eyes focused directly before her, vaguely registering the rise and fall of his chest, too afraid to look elsewhere.

Silent rage.

Her head was yanked back abruptly by the hair.

Uchiha Madara forced her to meet his blood-red eyes, the three tomoes within his bloodline limit spinning in fury. "Are you messing with me?" he spat murderously.

The steam still rose all around them, but Loreli felt undeniably cold. Trembling pitifully, she shook her head.

All at once she was flat on her back, beneath his powerful and overwhelming presence. That had been too sudden, too harsh. An intense wave of nausea swept through her.

"No-"

Her wrists, pinned above her head. Painful grip. She couldn't fight him, she knew.

Trembling voice. "Uchiha-sama, please…"

His other hand slipped under her yukata, yanking it open and revealing her to him.

She was so afraid, so short on breath; it did not help ease the nausea. She couldn't prevent the tears from forming.

Above her, dark lips slanted into a cruel smirk. "Heh. Crying already?"

Struggling. "…_Please,_" Loreli pleaded, no more than a mere whisper, "_I am going to be sick…!_"

She wasn't feigning, and he was able to realize it straight away. Right as he let go of her she lurched to one side and retched, throwing up the contents of her stomach.

An absolute nightmare.

He yanked her up by the arm. "So," a sharp, cutting word. Uchiha Madara held on to her tightly, keeping her up while her knees were too weak to support her weight. The tall man pushed her backwards, her back hitting the wall and she was cornered.

"You find my touch that repulsive," he accused lightly, Sharingan glaring, frightening.

Shaking her head, unable to stop her tears.

"U-Uchi-" The hiccups started, and she wasn't able to speak properly. "I'm hur-t-ting…p-please…"

She wished he would just take her life.

"Pathetic," Madara spat.

She might just get that wish granted to her.

He dragged her by the arm, pulling her out of the bathroom, heading for the door leading to the outside.

He swung it open, flinging her into the Uchiha standing guard outside, who managed to catch her with his quick reflex despite his obvious shock at the scene.

It sure wasn't an everyday occurrence.

"Take her back," Uchiha Madara ordered, "_gently,_ understand?"

Stunned and speechless, the man only nodded once.

Loreli stared, fearfully, as Madara glanced down at her with his arrogant and cold expression. A small quirk at the corner of his lips. He leaned down, two fingers raising her chin for a better angle. Light, sinister whisper.

"Don't run."

* * *

It was an older female servant, one with more authority, who got rid of the rest of the crying and panicking girls around her.

"Loreli."

Loreli blinked. "Ah." It was quiet, where did all the other girls go?

"Help me, I…" Loreli stared down at her hands. She had been clenching her fists so hard that her nails had dug into her palms and had bled into the fabric of her yukata which she was also holding tightly onto. "I think the blood has stuck to the cloth. I can't remove my hands."

Warm, comforting hands grasped hers.

"It's alright, Loreli. You are in shock. Just uncurl your fingers gently."

The older servant helped her with this suddenly very difficult task. Warm liquid dropped from her eyes.

"It's alright, cry it all out. No one is expecting you to be a martyr."

A sob erupted from her throat. Sinking slowly to the ground, she gave in to the wave of terror and despair that she had been trying to hold back the entire day.

* * *

The fever raged for two days and two nights. Her body struggled to regain its equilibrium. She'd have some nightmares, especially frequent toward the end before the fever broke. And those nursing her back to health never told her that it was obvious to them whenever she dreamt about her trauma.

"I think the girls are afraid of being associated with me now," Loreli commented tonelessly. Not that she blamed them.

"They just don't know any comforting words to offer. Everyone is actually suffering with you."

Hesitation.

"Actually, the one who must be suffering the most is Katamori-kun. He had not tried to come see you while you were asleep this whole time."

Loreli covered her eyes with the back of her hands, leaning back into her pillow.

"I'd rather not see him either."

A hurried knock on the door. It opened without waiting for an answer.

"It's Yuzuzu-hime-!" the girl announced quickly, in a panic.

Loreli didn't bother lifting her hands away from her eyes. "Don't let her come in."

She was a mess. Her hair was probably tangled beyond recognition. Bandages on all limbs, bruises everywhere.

Well, it was Yuzuzu-hime they were talking about.

…

"Looooreliiiii!" A high wail.

Loreli propped herself back up to a sitting position just as her young mistress threw her arms around her.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the princess kept repeating just that, breaking into sobs.

Loreli patted her mistress on the back.

"I will save you with my own power!" Yuzuzu-hime declared, her words slurred with emotion.

A bewildered glance, shot to the other servant girl.

"Ah." Wince. The nervous explanation. "The lord is troubled, either to comply with the princess's demand that the outsiders be cast out, or to apologize to the Uchiha clan for the misconduction of a servant."

…

"…I have troubled everyone." Loreli pried her mistress's arms from around her neck. "Hime-sama, please do not attempt anything."

A purse of her lips. Yuzuzu-hime was unhappy. She looked like she might break down and cry again.

"I will be alright."

Her mistress didn't believe her. Two hands grabbed hold of her collar.

"Kiss him."

Loreli stopped breathing.

"Kiss him. Make him fall in love with you."

…

Judging by the pure determination in her eyes, it looked like Yuzuzu-hime had given this much thought already.

"Hime-" Loreli choked.

"Do you not know how scared I was?" her mistress whimpered. "I thought you were going to die!" A pause. Yuzuzu-hime momentarily buries her face within the sleeve of her robe. "…It would be my fault."

Loreli shut her eyes for a brief moment. "…Forgive me, but I did not just receive that order."

Eyes shot up in disbelief. In all the years they've known each other, growing up together, the number of times Loreli had refused an order could be counted on one hand.

"You are aware why I commanded you to do so, aren't you!?" Yuzuzu-hime demanded.

"...I am aware he might kill me the next time he sees me."

"Ye-NO!" Rising abruptly to a stand. "I will not allow that to happen!" A swish of her long robes. "I hereby order you to accompany me to the event tonight!"

Steadfast. Yuzuzu-hime exited, royal robes trailing after her.

"By Kami…" the other servant whispered "…she is serious?"

"No," Loreli breathed. "I didn't hear anything. Help me up."

* * *

…

"…This feels like a funeral," Loreli observed aloud.

Several forced laughs from the ones dressing her up. Orders.

Don't run.

She closed her eyes, steadying her breath.

"Loreli-san."

"Yes, I'm ready." Loreli rose up.

"You're absolutely stunning," a nearby girl tried to be reassuring, "I'm sure no man can resis-" She was cut off by someone else's elbow to her side.

Loreli gave them a heartfelt smile. They truly cared about her.

"Everyone, I've made you worry. I can handle this perfectly."

It was a good thing she said that before she slid open the screen leading to the outside.

Loreli almost faltered.

It really was like a funeral procession.

"Loreli-san," the captain of the guards bowed at the waist, "I have been instructed to escort you to the banquet."

No wonder the other servants had been painstakingly nervous the whole time.

She took his arm without further delay, indicating that he could lead.

Silence. They were accompanied by a train of his guards. Apparently Yuzuzu-hime felt it necessary. Sometimes she wished her mistress could be a little more observant.

"I feel I am not worthy enough to speak to you," Katamori confessed, looking straight ahead.

Loreli was surprised he spoke. She smiled to herself, squeezing his arm gently. "You are a good man."

"Suppose you weren't the princess' servant…" he pondered aloud, softly.

"Would have never spoken to you," she replied.

He considered this, and smiled. "That's cruel, Loreli."

The rest of the way went in silence, though it wasn't unpleasant.

"You are attending?" Loreli inquired.

"That is the order."

"Right…"

He reached a hand up to her face, and then took it away. Katamori turned and gave a nod to his guards. He hesitated, but didn't leave her one last glance. They entered the great hall before her, clearing the way.

The instructions made it so that she would make a late entrance. That was fine.

She was strong.

Holding her head up, Loreli strode into the great hall, scanning the premises for her mistress.

Yuzuzu-hime was at the very end, at the high table. The feudal lord wasn't taking part in this event; the throne was all hers.

She didn't need to look to know that he would be to her mistress's right-hand side.

Calmly, Loreli headed over. Though they were all attempting not to for her sake, she knew that the focus of all attention in the great hall was on her.

"Hime-sama, I have come as you instructed."

A swish of loose silk sleeves. Yuzuzu-hime gestured for her to rise.

The princess rose from her seat as well. Her mistress motioned for her to follow.

Over to _their _side.

…Yuzuzu-hime. That is too bold.

Although Loreli thought it, she couldn't say it.

Her breath hitched in her throat the instant she caught sight of _him_.

Seated lazily, one knee propped up in boredom, half-lidded eyes regarding her carefully; Uchiha Madara exuded a raw and suffocating power even in his most precarious pose.

No one else in this place came even close.

Tonight, he looked magnificent enough to put any feudal lord to shame.

Indifferent black eyes fixated on her unblinkingly, even as Yuzuzu-hime spoke.

"Madara-sama-"

But Loreli forestalled it.

Dropping down on both knees, she went down in a low bow. "What I've done before is inexcusable. I will accept any punishment."

A public apology on behalf of her mistress. To refuse it would be difficult, although Loreli suspected the man had it in him.

"Lor-" Yuzuzu-hime's bewildered voice.

She heard him set down his cup. The quiet sound was enough to silence everyone in the hall.

Madara stood up, unhurriedly. He took off his gloves. She heard them hit the floor.

"Stand."

Bracing herself, Loreli got up to her feet. She thought she was prepared for this.

A flinch. His low voice flowed through her.

"Tonight, you will be my partner."

It took a moment for her to absorb the fact that he was holding out an arm to her, but not to strike her.

It took longer for her to absorb the meaning of the gesture.

…

Partner.

Partner.

…

Dance partner?

"Your mistress seems to wish it so," Madara told her.

A glance to Yuzuzu-hime. Loreli was able to comprehend that there must have been some discussion before she arrived.

Weakly, Loreli managed to take his arm, as lightly as possible.

This simply wasn't happening.

Apparently, the rest of the occupants in the hall shared her incredulousness. Yuzuzu-hime had to issue a silent reminder for them to carry on.

"…I'm surprised, Uchiha-sama. You dance?"

Her sarcasm did not go unnoticed by the tall, well-dressed Uchiha.

"Heh."

They reached the center of the hall, amidst the other couples. He took her arm, spun her to face him, circled one arm around her waist, and immediately forced her into step.

She placed both hands against his chest instinctively, trying to leave more space. He gasped her right wrist, laced his long fingers with hers, forcing her into proper pose.

He was undoubtedly a much more accomplished dancer, considering how completely rigid she'd become in a matter of seconds.

The steps he took, too, were unlike those around them. They were bold, controlling, and should she decide not to follow his lead, she would lose her balance completely. He led her into whichever direction he wanted.

"You want them to suspect that something's amiss?" Madara's low voice interrupted her silent suffering.

"Smile," he commanded.

Stunned at such an unreasonable demand, Loreli looked up with wide eyes.

His arrogant cold expression bore down at her. Long black mane framing his face. She had thought that he was a handsome man. The handsomest. But cruel. So cruel.

Slowly, mustering strength to the muscles in her face, Loreli forced a small smile which she prayed didn't look terribly artificial.

"Heh." He smirked. "That's good."

…

Averting her gaze.

Tiredly, Loreli asked, "…Why are you doing this, Uchiha-sama?"

"The _princess_ offered a compromise, how can I refuse?" A drawl. Mocking.

He knew that wasn't what she was asking.

"…Uchiha-sama is surprisingly considerate," Loreli replied with weak sarcasm.

Vaguely, she registered that he had maneuvered them off to the side. Nonetheless, she knew everyone's eyes still followed them.

"I'm curious." Uchiha Madara's voice had lowered, to the dark, foreboding tone she immediately recognized meant danger. "What can she be scheming this time?"

Loreli swallowed. Yes, she had been expecting a turn like this.

"…Uchiha-sama," she said lightly, "you believe that?"

Yet she couldn't look him in the eye to say it.

"As I recall," leaning in, his hair tickling her cheek, Uchiha Madara reminded her smoothly, "you didn't do a good job at convincing me."

Loreli lost track of her steps, but he was slowing down anyway. Her chest, knotting up uncomfortably.

"…Two near-death experiences…can do things to people…" she managed to say.

"There is a young man in here who's been eyeing me contemptuously this whole time," Madara's sinister voice drawled. She realized he wasn't speaking to her, but to the Uchiha man at the sidelines who Madara had brought them up next to.

"I find it irritating," Madara said simply.

His follower understood his words perfectly. He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Yes, Madara-sama."

Madara glanced down lazily, at the expression of horror she tried to subdue.

"Ah. My bad." He quirked a long eyebrow. "You were saying?"

…Monster…

Her stomach did not bode well. Loreli lost strength in her knees, and it made it worse that he was supporting her weight completely.

So he knew about that. No, of course he would have heard of a rumor like that. The entire halve of the castle was aware that there was something between the princess's first servant and the captain of the guards.

This man- no…this demon…

This wasn't even about the prank Yuzuzu-hime played on him anymore.

It was personal. This utterly ruthless Uchiha was going to have her pay for antagonizing him. A price in blood.

"Uchiha-sama-…" her breathing quick "…you are mistaken."

"Ah." His expression, cold and unrelenting as he gazed down at her. No, in fact, it looked like his ire was rising with her denial.

"…It really is a misunderstanding…"

Loreli felt a wave of panic wash over her. And surely he could sense it from the way the center of her palm was sweating.

"…What is it…that you'll have me do…?"

A smirk. He tilted her chin up with two fingers.

"You haven't forgotten my offer, have you?" Madara spoke coolly, dark lips inches from her own.

He paused, waiting until she made sense of his words.

If you can satisfy me, I will forget everything.

…

His whisper brushed against her pale lips. She couldn't get free of the strong arm encircling her waist.

"Why don't you take advantage of it while I am still merciful?" he suggested lightly, unfazed by the way she was trying to get him to release her chin.

"…Please…not here…"

She couldn't kiss him. She wouldn't dare.

Loreli desperately wished that it wouldn't have to come down to her needing to cover his lips with her hands, since that would undoubtedly cause a scene. Not that everyone wasn't watching already.

"…I will come to you, Uchiha-sama, after the event is over. So please…"

A long pregnant pause.

To her relief, Madara released her.

He didn't make further comment. She bowed and excused herself from his presence.

"Madara-sama."

He glanced sideways at the other Uchiha, discarding his act. "Do it."

"Yes, Madara-sama."

Madara stared after her ominously.

"Show her that members of the Uchiha know no mercy."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Haha, I took advantage of the Uchiha pride. He is so cruel…SO CRUEL…! T.T Geez, this guy manages to make Itachi look gentle. And the next chapter's even better, because I love drama.

By the way, thank you for reviewing! It makes writers happy to know their writing is being read and appreciated! It makes all the headache worth it :D


	4. Dead Garden

**A/N:** A reminder to those who may be confused; I _am_ writing Madara in the past. Don't worry about how far past; it shall become apparent by next chapter.

* * *

**Till You Die**

3 – _Dead Garden_

* * *

She didn't trust him. Only a fool would have believed him.

"Where is the captain?"

No, that man…-Uchiha Madara wanted her dead. But that alone wouldn't be enough to quench his wrath.

"Where is the captain?" the guard passed on her question to another guard at the next post, and got no definite answer in response. "Is something wrong, Loreli-san?" he asked, slightly alarmed by her restlessness.

Loreli was never impatient. Right then, however, she kept making little false starts, like she wanted to leave but didn't know where to go.

"…Loreli-san?"

What should she do? Should she attempt to warn him? Would that only make it worse?

Loreli turned at the sound of swishing robes.

"What is the meaning of this, Loreli?"

Loreli went down to one knee to greet her mistress.

"Do you have any idea how rude it is to leave a guest midway through an event?" Yuzuzu-hime reprimanded. "Go back."

"Forgive me, Hime." Loreli made sure her expression remained neutral. "Please relieve the guard captain of his duties tonight."

"What do you mean by this?" Yuzuzu-hime demanded sternly.

Loreli hesitated, but didn't meet her mistress's eyes. "…Please grant your servant this one wish…"

…

"Loreli?"

Silence.

It was true that Yuzuzu-hime wasn't too observant of what went on between people surrounding her, but that didn't mean she wasn't able to piece things together.

The silence was gravid, with revelations the younger girl did not wish to be true.

"…Why…"

That word melted into the evening. Loreli felt it tug guiltily at her heartstrings.

"…Why didn't you tell me anything?" Her mistress's whisper.

Jaw clenched in dread, Loreli struggled to come up with an excuse, with anything.

"He feels the same?" the princess asked whisperingly.

Loreli glanced up, words at the tip of her tongue.

A sharp slap.

Yuzuzu-hime had never raised a hand against her before.

Incredulous tone. "You were planning to carry this entire burden by yourself?"

…

Loreli was stricken, but not because the princess had just slapped her. She was anxious, fearful of where this might lead.

Yuzuzu-hime had begun pacing, biting her thumbnail in contemplation.

"What have I done?" A pause. Her mistress glanced down at her with a resolved expression. It was as Loreli had feared.

"I won't permit this."

"No!" That came out involuntarily. "I beg you, Hime. Please, please wait!"

No-…no-… She couldn't-…!

"Hime, please listen to me…"

"And do nothing?" Yuzuzu-hime snapped back. There was another pause. Her shoulders rising and falling rapidly. "The upper class exists to protect those underneath! I will not accept this!"

"You!" Her mistress proceeded to command the nearest guard. "Take her and find the captain of the guards. Don't let her return unless I order it."

Horrified. "Let go of me! Wait, please, Hime-"

"Didn't you hear me?" Yuzuzu-hime pointed at the hesitant guard. Her arm was trembling. "Don't let me hear her voice!"

…To think that Yuzuzu-hime would ever need to turn a deaf ear to her most trusted servant. Loreli couldn't even summon the strength to resist being pulled away at first.

"Release me."

She was able to make her request firm, but it wasn't enough to make the guard disobey orders.

"Please, Loreli-san. It is the princess's order."

She grasped his arm, his shoulder, offering enough resistance for him to take her seriously.

"If you don't release me right now, I will bite off my tongue and die right here," Loreli told him coolly.

The arm around her midsection slackened at her declaration, though he didn't release her.

"Loreli-san-"

"Do you not believe me?" she asked calmly, her voice rising slightly in challenge. "Fine, then I'll-"

"What is going on here?"

Both heads snapped towards the source of the familiar voice.

The guard let his arms drop away, relieved. "Captain, Yuzuzu-hime ordered for her to stay away until further notice." He received a nod of dismissal in reply, for which he was grateful for, having fortunately avoided anything serious.

"Katamori." Loreli went to him, hurriedly, and her breathing reflected her anxiety. "The princess-…"

She paused, calming down into a still.

"The princess?" he probed, as she did not continue. She was staring fixedly at his chest, straight before her.

…The scent of blood.

…

Slowly, very slowly…she looked up and met a pair of blood-red eyes.

"…Where is your leader?"

Loreli turned around carefully, without waiting for a reply.

It was dark already, and the rather isolated courtyard she was in wasn't well-lit at night. The only signs of movement were the shadows cast by falling leaves as the soft wind rustled the branches. There was moonlight, but it wasn't enough to reach the deep excesses behind the trees.

But he was there, wasn't he? …Where was he?

"Looking for me?"

Loreli spun at the sound of his dark, lush voice.

…Uchiha Madara.

He had gotten behind her, in front of the man who had disguised himself as the captain of the guards. She wasn't surprised.

"…Where is Katamori?"

Arms folded in nonchalance, the tall, long-haired shinobi arched one eyebrow slightly. It was the first time she spoke to him with a firm voice.

Seconds ticked past.

Madara began pacing a slow circle around the girl.

"…Who?" he asked, mockingly.

Her resentment intrigued him. Did she think she would be able to do anything about it?

"…What have you done to him?"

He detected the faint trembling at the end of her sentence this time.

"Ah." Madara presented a cruel smirk, and she could tell even in the dark. "You mean the fool who had drawn a blade against me." He waved a hand, a dismissive gesture to his follower. "One of my men even took the attack for me."

…Liar.

Loreli raised her eyes steadily. "He's not that type of man." Not like you.

He came to a stop before her. She didn't flinch as he shifted to face her squarely, casting a long shadow over her pale skin.

Cold, piercing eyes slimmed. Bending down so that he was at her eye level, Madara made her a dark promise.

"The type of man I am…" he told her cruelly, silkily, his long ebony bangs concealing one sinister red eye "…_you have no idea._"

Powerless. She was powerless as he instructed with a curt nod for two men who came up from behind to take hold of each her arms.

She was dragged, half-stumbling, further away from the castle's great hall. Which was just as well. Loreli would absolutely not have Yuzuzu-hime confront this _monster_.

…

Katamori, was he dead?

"…You made a mistake," Loreli said softly, almost as if to herself. "There's not one person who'll believe that Katamori would risk the safety of the castle by committing such an offense." He simply wasn't that type of man. Everyone knew that.

They had stopped moving. Loreli froze, and then started forward, but strong arms restrained her.

"That's easy," she heard Madara's light drawl as he passed by her. "I'll just let him decide."

With one hand, the ruthless shinobi roughly pulled up the guard captain by the collar.

Blood streaked down one side of Katamori's face. His neck, his arms, his entire frame was dyed red by webs of blood.

Thoughts failed her completely. She wouldn't have been able to scream if she tried.

"So what do you say?" Madara asked down at the panting, blood-soaked man. "If you choose to go along, I will allow you to live, and leave everyone else unharmed. However…"

He released Katamori, unhurriedly retracing his steps to where she could only watch, feeling helpless like never before.

Repulsion. She didn't like the feel of his fingers lifting her chin as Madara gazed down at her thoughtfully.

"…should you choose her instead and refuse to let this slip…" the Uchiha clan's merciless leader mused aloud, as one would sound if he were comparing a piece of merchandise "…I shall have to silence you."

…Why...?

Her throat was dry, she couldn't speak.

His languid, unrelenting expression as he stared down at her, shadowed by the moonlight coming from behind his powerful figure. No, he didn't care how it ended either way. There was already no question that he wanted her to pay with her life, but this…

Holding his gaze wasn't so difficult at this point. Loreli was numbed. At the very least, she didn't wish to show him the despair he was probably expecting of her.

Uchiha Madara smirked. "Heh."

Calmly, she blinked.

"…Katamori." Loreli glanced to the young lad whom she had watched become a fine young man.

He must have lost a lot of blood, but Katamori looked back with focused eyes. Apologetic eyes.

Loreli gave him a faint smile. They understood each other perfectly. And that's what hurt the most.

…

Slowly, one hand supporting his dislocated shoulder, Katamori went down to a low kneel.

"For whatever offense Loreli had committed, I will accept any punishment in her stead."

…It sank in, though she refused to believe it.

"No-…"

"Uchiha-sama," Katamori continued, as clearly as he could make it with his lungs bruised, "please be satisfied with only my life." Once a simple soldier, aspiring to be a general; Katamori was different from her. He wanted to rise high enough so that their people wouldn't need to rely on outsiders for protection. He had a dream he needed to achieve.

Loreli bit her lower lip, struggling to free her arms.

Idiot. What was he saying? Idiot.

"No! This is my sin!"

There was the sharp metallic sound of a blade being drawn. The blood in her veins ran cold.

"An honorable man…" Madara remarked, flashing the blade of a katana against the moonlight as he paced a circle around Katamori, who stared ahead unblinkingly.

Silently, Madara came up behind him, musing aloud. "…I don't think I dislike him."

A smirk. He leaned forward, over Katamori's shoulder. A taunting statement. "…_So I'll be taking her instead_."

Faster than Katamori could react to his provocation, one of Madara's followers was pressing him down, subduing him.

"Katamori-…"

A firm grip on her hair forced her to look up, into the sharp, handsome features of the man who had haunted her nightmares for two days and two nights.

"…What will you do to him?" Loreli whispered through the tight knot in her throat.

Red eyes regarded her stoically. His voice caused a shudder to run through her.

"You don't think…" Madara leaned forward, and she tried to retreat, but they were still holding her arms, keeping her in place. He continued, bringing himself close enough for her to feel his warmth "…that he will change his mind, after hearing how you quivered underneath me that time?"

Loreli was thrown momentarily into a flashback which appeared frequently in those nightmares she endured. Her breath hitched.

"Or what about…" Madara's dark sensual voice, lowered next to her ear "…the promise which you made me earlier?"

He spoke in his low, smooth tone, but that didn't mean he was speaking quietly. No, he meant for Katamori to hear all this, and knew that she was aware of this.

"…Why are you doing this…?" Loreli whispered faintly.

"Why?" He pulled back enough for her to see his bloodcurdling red eyes, a look of cruel amusement, accompanied by a dark smirk of his lips. "Because, _you…please me_."

She was stupefied. There was essentially no way to resolve any of this. What she was facing was an utter, incomprehensible evil.

Cold sweat.

Her stomach churning with fear and anxiety, Loreli summoned her will to speak.

"Not in front of him."

A pause.

"What's this?" Madara's voice was soft, sinister. He reached up to take long strands of her hair in his hand, and he asked her musingly, "You're not going to cry and beg for mercy this time?"

…

Dangerous. This atmosphere was dangerous.

He had all the cards in his hands. She knew she couldn't afford to appear defiant.

Loreli swallowed. Her heart thumping heavily.

"…Please, I beg you. Whatever you want with me, I beg you, not-…not in front of him."

The expression on Uchiha Madara's face…was frightening cold.

Her heartbeat grew erratic. Something…something she just said had displeased him.

"Loreli-…"

Loreli's gaze shot to Katamori. He was struggling to speak, despite being pinned down to the earth by one of Madara's men.

"…-don't-…"

She shut her eyes, wishing that he hadn't spoken. Her restraint could only stretch so thin.

"Heh."

Loreli felt the strands of her hair being released. Her eyes snapped open in dread.

Tall, statuesque, the white moonlight providing harsh contrast between his black mane and light skin, Uchiha Madara gestured commands with his hand. The god of death; surely she wouldn't be the first one to see the likeness in him.

"Take him away then," Madara commanded verbally, "where he'd be out of sight."

He glanced back at her with cruel eyes. A light, knowing smirk. The wave of cold washed over her even before he gave the next command to the two shinobi behind her.

"She will try not to. I want hear her scream."

Loreli met his eyes, unable to look away.

For what seemed like a long time, everything was frozen still.

Faintly at first, a strange and inexplicable urge to laugh welled up within her.

Uchiha Madara… No…this man couldn't possibly be human.

…

His heartless red eyes bore into her.

"Make sure he hears her scream."

…

…Monster…

"Keh!" Katamori was forced to rise, panting, good arm twisted behind his back.

"GUARDS!"

The shout had barely left his bleeding lips when a kunai was thrust between his ribs, immediately collapsing one lung.

She screamed. An uncontrollable scream.

A rough hand clapped over her mouth, muting her.

"Madara-sama…"

Torchlight. Rising voices.

Uchiha Madara coolly surveyed the scene before him. He passed a glance of approval to each his men.

Everything was unfolding more or less like he thought it would.

A smirk crossed his dark lips.

Just one more player to make an appearance on the board.

…These fools had no idea who they're dealing with.

Muffled sobs. As much as Madara felt disgusted by them, he signaled for the man to release her.

"She can't breathe."

Loreli gasped for air. "…Demon…" she accused him quietly.

"Heh."

…Why weren't they running away? Could it be…?

Incredulously, she watched as their leader whipped out a kunai, lazily spinning it around one finger.

"…You wouldn't…" Loreli whispered. It didn't sound convincing even to her ears.

Footfalls, surrounding them. The guards have arrived.

"Loreli!"

Loreli jolted at the sound of that voice. Pure terror gripped her.

He wouldn't-…!

Madara returned the kunai to its sheath, freeing both hands. He crossed one arm over his chest and bent slightly in a mock bow.

"_Princess,_" he addressed, glancing up with smirking eyes, "you came at a good time."

The malice did not escape Yuzuzu-hime's notice. Her eyes flickered over to Loreli, to the rest of the shinobi, and to the captain of the guards.

"Doctor!" the princess summoned sharply, before turning back to face the leader.

"Madara-sama." Yuzuzu-hime inclined her head forward, also a mock gesture of respect. "Ninja clans are mercenaries. It won't look kindly upon the Uchiha clan should word of this gets out."

A direct threat. An insult.

It might've been unintentional, but Loreli could feel the two Uchihas behind her tightening their grip on her arms murderously.

Oh. Oh god.

"Y-Yuzuzu-hime-!" Loreli choked out, horrified.

Eyes snapped to her.

"He can't harm me," Yuzuzu-hime said steadily. She directed her words at the Uchiha clan's leader, despite holding Loreli's gaze. "His clan needs the funding. Harming a potential client will hurt the clan's reputation."

No…please, god. No…

Shivering to the core, Loreli glanced fearfully to the man in question.

"I'm amazed, Princess." Though her mistress made herself appear confident, there was the visible flinch as Madara reappeared behind her without warning.

Close. That close. Faster than a blink.

"Such attachment to a mere servant," Madara remarked with a light drawl, "this is the first time."

Yuzuzu-hime held up a hand, halting the movements of the guards who intended to take action.

Her mistress's hand was shaking softly. She hid it within the loose sleeves of her silk robe.

Loreli couldn't breathe, couldn't look away from him.

He started pacing a slow, predatory circle around the princess, pressuring her with his presence.

"What if it were your underling who stepped out of bounds first?" Madara suggested lightly. "What if it were one of you who had attempted to assault me first?"

Already Loreli was shaking her head. She saw where he was going with this.

"Loreli." Yuzuzu-hime's order caused her to look up.

"Is this true?" her mistress looked back at her with knowing eyes. "Don't be afraid. Tell everyone the truth."

He caught her eye. Arrogant red eyes piercing her from behind the princess. A slow, cruel smirk. A deadly dare.

No…he wouldn't…

Uchiha Madara stopped his pacing, back to his original position behind the princess. Yuzuzu-hime maintained her rigid, authoritative expression.

"Loreli!" her mistress urged.

Sick. Loreli felt sick to the core.

He wouldn't-…would he? Yuzuzu-hime-…Yuzuzu-hime was _her life!_

"Speak!" Yuzuzu-hime commanded. At the same time Loreli saw he brought his arm up.

"YES! It's true! It's all true!" Loreli screamed. "It's true! God! It's true! Stop! Stop! Please stop!"

She was crying, out of breath, bitter sobs wrecking her. Powerless.

Yuzuzu-hime was dazed, to say the least.

The fact that Loreli was even capable of such a violent outcry; she wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't just witnessed it happening.

"Lore-"

"There you have it," Madara spoke coolly, addressing everyone present. "To outright suspect me of treason, _Princess_…" he smirked, and Yuzuzu-hime's jaw clenched despite having her back to him "…how are you going to compensate me?"

Loreli shook her head. She couldn't believe it. Everything fell into place exactly the way he wanted. He had manipulated all the pieces perfectly.

It didn't matter if her mistress believed her or not. It didn't matter if anyone else in the castle believed her or not. The only words which would get outside would be the lie she had just claimed.

"I…" There was a long pause before Yuzuzu-hime steeled her resolve and spoke again. "I have spoken with the lord, my father. We will agree to the conditions you have asked for during the negotiations. In return…"

Her sleeves trembling visibly, Yuzuzu-hime turned to face him and bent at the waist in a bow of apology. "I ask that Madara-sama forgive the misconduct of these subordinates."

…Was it not enough?

No. Loreli felt her eyelids flicker in realization.

He would not make the simple mistake of letting her off just like that. He would have to silence her.

"Heh. Very well," Madara said after a deliberate pause, in his arrogant, authoritarian voice. "Tell your lord I accept the offer. However…"

Loreli watched him approach. The way his red eyes contemplated her was indifferent and cold. Suffocating silence.

A long arm encircled her head. Loreli struggled to keep everything in.

His voice came from beside her ear. He was right next to her. She could feel his words as clearly as she heard them.

"I will keep this woman with me."

The repulsion was real. Loreli was shivering uncontrollably as his hand covered her eyes, plunging her into a frightening darkness.

"Shhh… Go to sleep now..."

* * *

…

**A/N:** What Madara wants, Madara gets. And hopefully that's the last time I'll need to write a 3000 word chapter as one single scene. My head… arghhhhh…


	5. Uchiha Izuna

**A/N:** What plo- OH yes, _that _plot! Heh heh heh…uhmmm yeah there's-…there's a plot! I'm just…taking things slowly… Still working on a way to fit Senju into all this.

* * *

**Till You Die**

4 – _Uchiha Izuna_

* * *

"Madara-sama."

"Welcome back, Madara-sama."

The clansmen, men and women alike, parted to either side to allow their leader and his councilors a path to the center complex.

If they took notice of her, they made sure not to show any open curiosity. Loreli briefly wondered if it were common for members of the Uchiha council to be seen propelling a foreign female along amidst their ranks.

The open-sky hall was built on marble tiles, stretching a great distance and lined on either side by tall marble columns.

A tall young man fell into pace next to the brisk strides of the leader, Uchiha Madara.

"You're late. What caused the delay?"

"War," Madara said simply, without sparing him a glance.

The young man waited, as if expecting more to come.

"…That's it, huh?"

"Summon the council!" Madara commanded, chiefly to the guards posted at the end of the hall. "We will meet now!"

Loreli felt the ones who flanked her glance at one another quizzically, unsure of what they were supposed to do with her, before letting go and following their leader.

She was left alone. No one else remained in the hall.

The Uchiha stronghold was massive, much larger than she had imagined it would be. It was too open, too fortified to be considered a hideout, but from what she could tell, they had more than enough men to safeguard it.

None of those observations interested her, however.

…

Footsteps on marble. Whoever it was didn't bother to conceal his approach.

Loreli turned, to face the one who had spoken to Madara when they came through the hall.

"Extend your arm," he ordered her even before he reached where she stood.

She stared at him a moment longer. He reminded of a minstrel who came by court every now and then, beloved for his gentle voice and angelic features, though she knew it was just a coincidence they looked alike. This man was no less an Uchiha than the rest.

Mutely, Loreli raised her arm out to him like he wanted.

He laid two fingers on her wrist, feeling her pulse.

"Name."

"Loreli," she answered, "I have no other."

"Age."

"…Twenty, when the leaves change."

"You don't look it."

…

"…I am often told."

He removed his hand, pacing around her skeptically.

"Why did Madara bring back someone who's not a ninja?"

He addressed Madara's name without an honorific, she noted.

Loreli wasn't sure if she was meant to answer that question.

"What is your relation to him?" he asked.

She blinked once.

"…I dumped hot water on him and he wanted to kill me. Thrice."

A pause.

"Hn. Not bad."

Loreli glanced up hesitantly.

"Very easy on the eyes, too," he commented.

She wondered uneasily if he had gotten the wrong idea, although she couldn't see how he would.

"Izuna-sama," a voice called out to him. He looked to see a guard coming out of the meeting area. "They need you in there."

"I see." He inclined his head in her direction. "Have the women get her settled in."

"That-" Loreli started to say, but the man was already gone.

* * *

The women who lived within the inner complex were all black-haired and fair-skinned. They all wore their hair long, simple, and a few had theirs braided in a single braid. Curious eyes assessed her, pausing in their work.

"My, she is small as the rumors say."

Loreli blinked at the one who made that light-hearted comment.

It was true that she was possibly the shortest one in the room, but she'd never thought herself as small.

"Can we get you anything?"

Loreli noticed that the Uchiha guard who had escorted her there had already gone. She hesitated.

"…I would like to help," Loreli said quietly, feeling a bit awkward.

She saw the women exchange bewildered glances. No doubt those rumors contained other parts to them as well.

Loreli gave a faint smile, taking a seat on an unoccupied stool. They had been engaged in the task of peeling vegetables before she had made an appearance. It was a chore she was familiar with.

"…I'm just a simple girl," she told them, picking up a knife. "A servant, like you."

Someone giggled.

"We're not servants," one of them informed her, much to her surprise.

"I bet you thought women of the Uchiha must be great kunoichi, huh?"

It was strange. How was it that the women of the same Uchiha clan as those heartless mercenaries were so warm? So much like-…

A strong sense of nostalgia gripped her.

"Oh. Oh my…"

Hands were patting her reassuringly on the back. Many pairs of hands.

It was a strange experience for Loreli. Back home, she was always the one who did the comforting. This feeling of vulnerability, she wasn't familiar with. It made it harder to bear.

"It's alright. This is between us women. You can let it all out."

They encouraged her to let her tears fall. So she gave in to their sympathy.

Loreli shielded her eyes with her hands and decided that this would be the first and final time she'd cry for the loss of her precious people whom she knew she'd never see again.

* * *

"Izuna-sama."

There was the shuffling of stools. All the women had gotten up to a stand to greet him.

He must be an important figure.

Loreli rose up as well. His eyes went to her.

"So you're still here."

"Ah-" she started.

"No, I approve."

He glanced around at the curious expressions.

"But I take it that this means you haven't been shown a room."

He beckoned her to follow with one hand. Then he turned around without waiting for her.

Loreli glanced at the women, who gave her farewell smiles. She followed.

He wore white, a high-collared shirt, the emblem of the Uchiha clan on the back. They seemed to be rather fond of high collars and high necklines, anything that doesn't expose the neck.

Loreli had been staring at the red and white fan which was the symbol of their clan on his back; she didn't realize that he had lessened his long strides to make it easier for her to keep up, which resulted in her slowing down even more.

"Any slower," he remarked, glancing over his shoulder at her, "and you'd be going backwards."

"What are you doing, Izuna?"

Izuna noted the way she went completely rigid at that authoritative voice.

Madara passed the scroll in his hands to the councilor beside him.

"Showing her a nice room facing the outside, what do you think?" Izuna replied.

"That won't be necessary," Madara said curtly, and in front of two councilors no less. "Settle her in my room."

The young woman promptly turned five complexions paler.

* * *

…

"Izuna-sama?"

"How long had she been sitting there?"

The woman he had beckoned to him glanced worriedly in the direction of the yard.

"Since the day they brought her, Izuna-sama."

"Two _days?_"

"We have tried, but she hasn't taken any food either."

It was a cold glance Izuna sent in the girl's direction. "Fine. I will handle this."

He went to her, a huddling figure beneath the tree.

"You plan to waste away?"

She looked up.

He had half expected to see red-rimmed eyes, dark circles, but there were no signs of them. She was composed, calm.

"I heard. How do you think that princess of yours would react if she hears about what state you're in?"

For a long moment she held his eyes before she spoke.

"When I was five, I watched my own mother sacrifice herself to save the princess from ninjas who were sent to assassinate her. Because she was the_ princess_. Perhaps I've always hated her."

He didn't even blink.

"The Sharingan make good lie detectors. It's best you learn that early."

…She stared at him a while longer before amending her statement.

"No, I mean I hate ninjas."

That one wasn't a lie. Izuna raised an eyebrow.

"You're quite stubborn. If you hadn't resisted, you'd know that Madara is much too busy to return to his quarters. He just wants them to keep an eye on you."

"I'm that great of a threat. Why keep me?"

"You're an outsider," he said simply. "Are you going to disobey me?"

She didn't answer.

"Hn. Very well. I'll make you change your mind."

He grabbed her arm, forcing her up.

Loreli was pulled by the arm, through the corridors and halls, passing guards and curious onlookers as he led her out of the center complex of the Uchiha stronghold.

She didn't offer any resistance. It wasn't like she could expect anyone to help her.

"I am the Uchiha clan's second-in-command." He stopped. "Do you not fear me?"

Their second-in-command was also this young. But, compared to Madara, this man simply didn't display the same oppressive aura.

"No."

An eyebrow went up. "Shouldn't have said that."

She didn't get time to yelp in surprise. The rushing of wind met her back and the next thing she knew, he was setting her down on one of the higher branches of the tallest tree within the stronghold walls.

"Think about it up here."

She watched, stunned, as he executed a back-flip and landed flawlessly on his feet far below.

Think about it up here? Loreli had never, ever been this high up in her life.

"You two," Izuna addressed two guard witnesses. "Watch her. Don't let her down unless I say so."

…Loreli hated ninjas.

* * *

…

Third break. Meeting wasn't over for the day yet. Madara hadn't left the meeting area for two days.

Izuna paused in the open-air corridor. The sky had darkened considerably since the last break they took. It had started to rain.

Ohh. Not good.

As if on cue, one of the women, an older one, hurried to him.

"Izuna-sama, some of the women are worried. That girl has not eaten or rested for two days, she may not be able to withstand this cold."

"I get it."

Gathering chakra to his feet, Uchiha Izuna sprinted outside.

He didn't pause at the group of spectators gathered at the base, scaling up the length of the towering tree in two great leaps.

"You really know how to cause a scene."

Her arms wrapped tightly around the tree bark, Loreli appraised him skeptically.

"…Maybe you shouldn't have done something like this where everyone could see."

"I thought it'd be an amusing sight."

…

"…Why don't you kiss Madara-sama the next time you see him?" she asked tonelessly.

His eyebrow went up. "Why?"

"…It would make an amusing sight," she said blankly.

…She didn't have a good impression of him, that much was obvious.

Hn. Not bad at all.

"You're wet."

And cold.

Her skin felt frozen beneath his fingers.

"Tsch. Foolish woman."

Ignoring her protest, Izuna wrapped his arms around her waist and wrenched her free from the tree.

The descent was too quick to allow her a choked scream.

"I'll bring her back," he told the spectators, slinging her over one shoulder.

"Please let me down."

"Oh ho."

"I can walk."

"Not like this." To demonstrate, Izuna leapt up, taking a shortcut by directly going over the rooftops of two-story homes.

If he was going to demonstrate his arm power next by playing toss with her, she'd make sure that she threw up in his face.

Fortunately he noticed her discomfort before anything that extreme happened.

He held her up before him. Her forehead was burning, feeling as though it was being split in two.

Izuna cursed under his breath. Entering the hall, he called out the names of the older women who inhabited the center complex.

"She's been out in the rain," he informed the ones who came, as if they didn't know.

"Lay her down somewhere; we'll have to take a look."

"I'll bring her to Madara's-"

"No-!" She kicked him. Izuna narrowed his eyes. That had better not be intentional.

"No!" She was struggling, attempting to free herself.

"Izuna-sama," one of the women offered, "bring her to my room, it's nearby."

He gave a nod in acknowledgement.

What a violent reaction to Madara's name. Izuna made a mental note to find out what really happened during that prolonged trip.

"The men don't know this," the woman who had come to find him earlier was saying as he laid the half-conscious girl he was carrying down on the futon bed, "but women are susceptible to something called 'stress'-"

He was being chided. It wasn't everyday the Uchiha clan's second-in-command could be caught getting lectured on something completely unnecessary for a ninja to possess.

"-a simple girl in an environment which is alien to her, and despite knowing her physical state you-"

Izuna held up a hand. Silence.

"I may have overdone it a little," he admitted.

A scowl of disapproval, but no further comment.

"Someone, bring more firewood! She's cold, remove her wet garments!"

"I'll take my leave, then," said Izuna. Before he becomes known as a pervert as well as the villain.

He ran a hand through his ebony spikes and gave a small inward sigh. The women were fierce when they bond together. And it seemed like they had taken the girl under their wing rather quickly.

Without further ado, Izuna made his way back to the meeting area.

"Izuna-sama."

"He's still in there?" Why did he even bother asking?

"It's still early for all these preparations. Madara-sama doesn't know the meaning of rest."

…

Madara did not glance up when he entered.

Izuna went to his usual seat, to his left. He put up his legs on the table, successfully catching the other man's attention.

"Well?" Izuna probed.

Madara's red eyes narrowed at him in response.

Izuna elaborated, "The girl. What's the story?"

"Doesn't matter," Madara replied curtly. "She's mine to do whatever I please."

Izuna raised an eyebrow.

"You're the one who brought her back. If you won't take care of her, then at least assign someone else to."

He knew he was probably pushing his luck.

"It must be hard on her, in a strange place, treated as an outsider. She must be lonely."

Izuna refrained from giving in to a smirk.

"Or you could acknowledge her as your woman."

There it was. The murderous intent of the man who'd never been good at taking jokes.

"Why, tell me," asked Madara, with eyes in ominous slits, "would I have any intention of doing that?"

The corner of Izuna's mouth twitched up. "It's not everyday you'd find someone submissive enough to your tastes and yet strong enough not to break. Besides, I approve of her. That's the only approval you need to worry about."

"You, my keeper?" Madara practically snarled.

"Your _brother._"

Static. If there were anyone else in the room, they would've known better than to linger.

Finally, Izuna backed down, setting his feet back on the ground where they belong.

"By the way, I heard she'd taken ill."

Madara frowned, indifferent. "There's no reason why she would."

Uh…

Izuna kept a straight face. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe she wanted to escape?"

"Heh." Madara went back to reading.

"Something about she'd rather die," Izuna went on. "Should I move her to another room? It's against my ethics to force a woman, really."

Madara rolled up the scroll, standing. He tossed it onto the table.

"Since you are so keen on distracting my work," Madara said scathingly, "I'll go and just take a _look _at her, happy?"

Izuna strained to contain his grin until Madara's back was turned.

The double doors slammed open on his way out. "This meeting is adjourned!" Madara snapped.

* * *

The women wore varying degrees of shock on their faces.

Uchiha Madara, their tall and darkly handsome leader, had come to the women's quarters for the first time. Under normal circumstances, it was rare to even get this close to him.

"Madara-sama." Everyone had gotten up to a stand. The gossips will never end.

His red eyes slimmed down at the figure of the sleeping female beneath the covers.

"What ails her? Speak."

"She is cold, Madara-sama. We're trying to raise her body temperature back up."

He was already undoing the buttons on his sleeves and collar.

"Get out!" Madara commanded.

A few hesitant glances, but none of them dared disobey his order.

They saved their energy for those accusatory glares directed at Uchiha Izuna instead.

"Hn?"

"Didn't she not want to be near Madara-sama?" A disapproving whisper.

"Oh. Fetch me when the screaming starts."

* * *

Roughly two hours later the first scream pierced the hallway of the women's quarters.

Why…

Where was she!?

She remembered being taken away. She remembered parts of the travel. No, why-

Why was she naked in bed with Uchiha Madara!?

He moved, and Loreli felt another involuntary scream erupt from her dry throat. God. Oh god.

But Madara was only sitting up, long hair swishing against the pillow. His half-lidded red gaze chilled her.

What- What had happened while she was out!? She couldn't remember!

"Madara-sama." The door opened.

His eyes narrowing in displeasure, Madara addressed the intruder maliciously. "Did I tell you to come in?"

"Please, Madara-sama, this girl is faint from having not eaten for two days, and-"

"What did you say?" His sinister words interrupted the woman.

Loreli shivered, pulling the covers closer to her body.

"Ah-…that is…"

Madara was no longer paying attention.

Mockingly. "Does the food here not suit your taste?"

Loreli swallowed.

A dreadful, contemplative silence.

"Looks like I'll need to discipline you."

Loreli shut her eyes, unable to look at him any longer.

"Please…please kill me."

A hand gripped her hair, arching her to him.

"You are not allowed to die without my permission," Uchiha Madara told her softly, maliciously. "This will be your only warning."

He let go of her abruptly, getting up to dress.

"If she fails to take a meal again, you will report to me."

"Yes, Madara-sama."

He left, hardly sparing a glance at the numerous curious women gathered outside in the hallway.

A moment later the door reopened and Uchiha Izuna came in.

"About earlier," he started to say, as he felt an apology was in order for his inconsiderateness earlier.

It all came back to her then.

The height. The way she had protested to being brought anywhere near the man named Uchiha Madara.

Traitor, her eyes said.

Izuna frowned. "But, I never _was_ on your side."

* * *

…

**A/N:** I did say no humor in this story…but I'll have to make an exception for Izuna – he is character foil for Madara (kyyaaa, Madara's a softie to his lil brother ^^). And is this starting to feel like a really novel-like really long story to you? Well, I suppose it will be… You won't mind? :D


	6. Crimson Serenade

**A/N:** Loreli? She's just tall enough to be considered short—no, wait-!

…Anyway, upon request, here's moar Izuna and a…bit of enlightenment?

* * *

**Till You Die**

5 – _Crimson Serenade _

* * *

Hot. Scalding water.

She wanted the feeling of him off her skin.

That had been the only thing on her mind since she had gotten up, feverish and disoriented, struggling to contain her emotions.

Having woken up to the man who had become her worst nightmare, with his strong arms wrapped around her, the most intimate she'd ever been to any man in her life.

Of course she'd screamed.

The small wooden bucket fell from her trembling hands, hitting the tiles with a sound which startled the women waiting outside.

Loreli didn't notice their inquiries.

What exactly- What exactly happened back then?

She drew in a shuddering breath, laying her head down into her palms.

Dizziness.

Loreli had promised herself not to cry.

…

For a long time she sat there, unmoving.

She was still shaking.

The door slid open. Loreli could tell from the rush of cold air.

No words were exchanged, and none were needed.

"We know you don't have much of an appetite right now, being unwell, but won't you let us follow on orders?"

Loreli was assisted in dressing. They figured she needed help.

"He won't raise a hand against us women, but we'd never know if our husbands will go missing in action during the next battle."

Loreli looked to the one who spoke.

"That's why those with families are reluctant to reside here in the center complex."

"Don't say things like that. Even if it's a joke. Don't mind her; she just wants to see your reaction."

…Really?

"Everyone's curious about your relationship with Madara-sama," Loreli was told.

She didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.

It ate away at her.

"About that…what-…why was-…"

She couldn't ask it. She didn't even want to remember it.

One of them took a guess. "You were suffering from hypothermia. Izuna-sama brought him here. You don't remember?"

Izuna. The one who had left her up in that daunting height in the first place.

"Anyway, eat before it gets cold. You must be ravenous after all this time, right?"

…Ravenous, was she?

But the agony took her mind off other things.

…

Minutes passed. Loreli lost track.

She hadn't noticed that one of the women had left the room.

A good while later, all of them cleared the room.

"That man you were attached to…"

Loreli looked up from her seat.

"He's alive."

Uchiha Izuna, leaning with crossed arms against the doorframe.

"Are you sure you want to test Madara's patience?"

Loreli looked back down. Only because staring up was making her feel light-headed at the moment.

"…I thought Madara-sama was much too busy to concern himself with me?" She made it a question.

"Touché."

Izuna straightened up. Loreli heard him give a sigh as he came over to her.

"I guess it can't be helped."

He lifted her up. She felt her heart skip.

He was strong, way stronger than he appeared. He made it seem like carrying her on one arm was effortless.

"Izuna-sama?"

Izuna had kicked the door open with one foot. Hesitant gazes surrounded him.

"If she doesn't want to eat now, fine," he told them. "I'm the only one who can go against Madara and still expect to live."

"But-…"

Izuna frowned slightly, noting their shifty glances. "I'll be good."

He turned, the wide movement forcing Loreli to cling to his high shirt collar. She had to; otherwise she might've fallen off.

"Hn. You're like a glass doll." Izuna adjusted his arm while walking so that she was positioned more securely.

What was he planning to do with her?

Casual tone. "That man, you love him?"

She knew who he was referring to. It looked like he had learned of Katamori.

Loreli stared blankly into his Sharingan. If she were to lie, he could probably tell.

…What type of answer did he expect her to give?

A lump rose in her throat. Izuna raised an eyebrow at her, still waiting.

Waiting…

"…He is a good man," Loreli finally answered, looking away from him. Too good not to love. "I could've imagined a future with him."

"In other words," Izuna drawled, eyebrow still arched in amusement, "he's boring."

…Loreli pursed her lips.

This man.

"Where's Madara?" Izuna asked a passerby.

"Training."

Cold glance. "Without me?"

"Training the men, Izuna-sama."

"I see."

"Where are you taking me?" Loreli wanted to know, beginning to panic.

"I thought you'd be livelier if you eat with Madara. Come to think of it, I don't know when's the last time he'd eaten properly."

No…

"I'm sorry. Take me back, please."

If he had meant to threaten her into obedience, it was working.

"He saved you, aren't you at least going to thank him? Hn. Mishura would be jealous if she heard."

Or he was simply teasing her. Not in an amusing way.

"…You seem to have a lot of time on your hands, for being the clan's second-in-command," Loreli said slowly. "Are you Madara-sama's advisor or his babysitter?"

"His _brother_."

He possessed a lightning-quick reflex. Caught her before she hit the floor.

"Hey." Izuna, facing down at her, eyes squinted close and lips touched by a light smile. "I'm going to get angry," he warned.

…

She didn't know which of the two brothers was scarier. At least the elder one's reactions were always predictable.

Loreli remained speechless as he set her down back on her own two feet.

He didn't let go of her. Izuna responded to her silence with a tiny, knowing smirk. The atmosphere surrounding him had completely changed at his will. The very semblance to Uchiha Madara.

"Hn?" Slow, sensual voice. Eyes half-closed, watching through dark lashes. "Now you're afraid of me?"

Loreli swallowed, remembering herself.

"…What do you want from me?"

"That's easy." Izuna released her. He started pacing. "You obey Madara. The rest of us get spared from his wrath."

…

…He probably knew she couldn't care less. Yet, she was afraid of him. She hesitated before responding.

"…If not?" Loreli asked tonelessly.

Izuna paused, kneading his forehead in resignation.

"Mishura."

Loreli blinked. That was the name he had mentioned earlier, too.

"If you can meet her, she'll be able to help you." Izuna looked at her thoughtfully. "Hn. But that's if Madara will allow you out to that area."

Perplexed. "…Help me?" she asked calmly.

"Madara had always been rather fond of her, you see. She's the only female in his life. Precisely why she'll want you away from him…at any cost. Get my meaning?"

"…Really."

Slight frown. "What reason would I have to lie about this?"

Loreli wasn't convinced. The way he so easily swung between two personas made it suspicious. And a mysterious woman, who had influence over Uchiha Madara?

Again, she hesitated.

"…Is Mishura, by any chance, your mother?"

…

Izuna's frown darkens. "…Just what kind of impression do you have of me?"

* * *

It had lightened up considerably, though rainclouds still lingered in the sky. Droplets of rain still beaded his long spikes.

"Next!" Madara snapped.

Mistress.

Preposterous. Someone not even of the bloodline, his woman?

Never been done before. Unacceptable.

"Next!"

Her devotion to her princess, and the princess's affection for her, was what allowed him an easy conquest back at the castle. He had kept her alive on a whim, if only for the sake of his own dark amusement.

"Next!"

How _dared she_. If she had no intention of living, he will _kill her himself_. But he won't allow her an easy death.

Madara's current sparring partner went skidding through the wet gravel, a cloud of debris rising in its wake.

…

The Uchihas were known to be fearless shinobi. That didn't mean they couldn't recognize an end game if they were to see one.

Their leader was simply being more brutal than usual.

"…I don't want this, please," the small female reiterated from behind him. In the end he still had to bring her by force. She looked like she was about to suffer an anxiety attack.

In a bored tone, Izuna agreed, "Now is probably a bad time."

Tall, ravishing appearance, radiating an intense and dangerous allure; that was Uchiha Madara, his ambitious and authoritarian elder brother, who had more than enough power to justify his arrogance. Known as the youngest to ever rise to the head of the clan, a ruthless warrior and tactician, acknowledged as the greatest Uchiha ever lived.

There shouldn't be any woman who didn't want to be held by him. It was too bad even the densest of them were able to sense – within a short amount of time – that he was more liable to _kill them_ with a dark personality like his.

Izuna's arrival on the training grounds probably allowed for widespread relief.

…

Training, huh? More like slaughtering the men.

…Then again, she had to be able to survive something like this.

"Madara!"

Izuna sensed the girl flinch and took a sideway step so that she stood behind him. Cute, really, the way she thought she'd be safer with him.

Well, she certainly wasn't going to feel the same way after this.

…

Silent, stoic, but with an undeniably murderous aura surrounding him, Uchiha Madara turned to look in their direction. At once the girl quit all her protesting and became stock still. The tension was dire, even from that distance.

A long, suspenseful lull. A pending storm.

Madara arched a long, thin eyebrow. "You called?"

Izuna knew full well that Madara loathed making concessions to anyone. And to make it better, the men were there to witness.

"The girl has a request," Izuna reported to him seriously. "Says she won't start eating again till you grant it."

She was shaking her head, fearfully. He drew her closer by the elbow, preventing her from backing away any further.

"…Why?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

"You've come this far," Izuna answered down at her, purposefully for all of them to hear, "don't back down, now."

Too bad he didn't feel low for doing this.

…

Izuna watched as Madara carried a slow glance over to the men, all of whom despite their growing restlessness did not dare to take action unless ordered. Receiving such an outrageous insult to his authority, this was the first time. He'd need to set an example.

"Bring her to me!" Madara ordered scathingly, narrowing his eyes back at Izuna. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the tomoes in his cold crimson eyes had whirled and bled into its true, awakened form.

…

Well, maybe he did feel just a little bit bad. Hopefully she'd live.

…

"…You are not on my side," she finally said to Izuna, confirming his own claim. Naturally, she hadn't moved at first, but she lightly brushed off his arm and went on her own.

Hn. That was what he liked about her, Izuna noted as he followed from behind. She wasn't exceptionally brave – or, rather, her courage was real and not a manifestation of some folly. It didn't matter how much she struggled or begged to be kept away; she would not back down when it mattered. And she was able to remain courtly to her worst enemies even in the face of threat.

The girl was strong, but would Madara break her?

"…U-Uchiha-sama…" Her first time seeing the mangekyou. Trying to steady her nerves and failing singularly.

He reached for her. Loreli felt her muscles lock up. She had seen what he was capable of. Perhaps Izuna had meant for her to know.

…What…exactly…was she afraid of?

"…So you think you're in a condition to strike bargains with me. Heh."

His thumb, idly stroking her throat. His hand was damp and warm on her neck. The rest of her body felt chilled to the bone.

Was it death which she feared? …Was it really?

"In any case, why don't you tell me your request?" suggested Madara, cuttingly, taunting her.

She tried to shake her head, just a little bit. Tried to open her eyes to look at him. She couldn't.

His hand went still on her throat. Impatience.

"Ah-!" Loreli choked out as he jerked her towards him by the neck. She coughed, ignoring the sharp biting pain from the headache which hadn't done her a favor and left her just yet.

Madara's harsh, authoritative voice did not help.

"Well? What is it!? You want to return home? A separate mansion? Servants? Speak!"Madara demanded sharply.

Loreli wanted to faint. No, she couldn't handle this anymore. She didn't know what she could say that wouldn't invoke more of his wrath.

He was silent, growing impatient, murderously impatient. She could feel it as surely as she could feel the tension suffocating her.

Perhaps she should've asked him to order his younger brother to stay away from her.

"…Please allow me to meet with Mishura," Loreli finally whispered, resigned.

Madara's blood-red eyes narrowed. "Mishura?"

He looked to Izuna, who was busy examining the lines on his palms.

Madara said nothing else. His glare remained fixated on Izuna, and that was enough.

"You haven't visited her for a while," said Izuna, looking up to meet his eyes knowingly. "I thought Mishura might want to meet her."

Cold, unrelenting glare.

"I'll take over the training," Izuna suggested. Madara hadn't released the girl yet. That was a bad sign.

"Women are susceptible to something called stress," Izuna quoted calmly.

Curtly, Madara asked, "And?"

Izuna kneaded his forehead with his hand, thinking. He didn't know the rest to that. "…I thought you would know."

…

He released her with a jerk of his arm. Loreli lost her balance and fell back.

"I'd like a word with you after this," Madara told Izuna coolly.

…What was happening?

"Get up!"

He was commanding her. Loreli clenched her jaw and obediently picked herself back up.

Madara smirked. "Heh. Very well, I will bring you to Mishura."

* * *

Uchiha Mishura.

Elegant female. Sleek build, obsidian black eyes.

…

A falcon.

…She should have expected something like this, but still…there was something…something seriously _wrong_ with this irony.

Each time the bird of prey swooped down for a landing Loreli felt like it might attack her, but that hadn't happened yet.

"Heh."

If she didn't know better, she'd think that he was making the falcon fly that close to her on purpose.

Mishura ruffled her feathers, perched precariously on Madara's gloved fist as he brought her closer to Loreli.

One dark eyebrow arched slightly. "Well?"

At least he felt amused by all this. That was…a good thing, right?

The falcon let out a menacing screech at her, wings spread wide as it balanced itself on its master's hand.

Jealous indeed…

"…She's…cute…"

Madara drew Mishura back, much to Loreli's relief. He said something to the bird. With an upward heave of his arm, he let the falcon fly.

It did not circle back this time. She briefly wondered where he'd sent it.

…They were alone.

Why did it end up like this?

"Stress?" his voice startled her.

Madara had his arms folded, watching her. Aside from the telltale quirk on his dark, flawless lips, he did not appear amused.

Snidely. "What happened to all the confidence you had back at the castle?"

He was taunting her. He knew she felt powerless and took pleasure in making her say it.

Breath fluttering, Loreli forced herself to respond, lest he lose patience again.

"…Uchiha-sama…my reaction is that of a normal person's in my situation," replied Loreli.

"Is that so?" Madara's sinister voice.

A breeze blew by. Loreli found herself shivering. She couldn't stop.

"Look at me!" ordered Madara.

It wasn't that she was afraid to look up at him. He was an undeniably beautiful man, magnificent and statuesque. But it pained her eyes to look at him.

Dark, dominating, merciless and hostile; seeing him reminded her of all the horrors he put her through. It hurt. Her eyes hurt. Despite that, Loreli raised her eyes to his.

This was the very man who she had woken up naked next to.

The tall shinobi closed the gap between them with one leisurely step. She felt her expression slipping.

Madara circled around her, close enough that his sleeves brushed by hers.

"You're not afraid of me?"

…

No, she'd lied to herself. She did fear him. She feared his speech. She feared his strength. She feared his silences and his movements.

She feared everything about him.

"…I'm-…terrified…Uchiha-sama…"

"Yet you disobey me."

Loreli swallowed, blinking hard. She couldn't deny that.

He took a portion of her long hair in his hand. Loreli tensed at the action.

Madara leaned down next to her ear. Soft voice. _"I want to hear you beg."_

Slight hesitation. The girl went down on both knees before him, head bowed.

"…Please forgive me…Uchiha-sama…"

Madara stared down at her coldly, forebodingly.

He knew she only gave in that easily because she had enough sense not to confront him directly. It might have worked for her in the past, but she was about to learn that it wouldn't work on him.

He was Uchiha Madara. And she had dared to disobey him.

Slowly, Madara let her hair slip from his hand.

"Why should I forgive you?" he asked her softly, purposefully.

Pale and fragile, her lips set in a straight line to keep them from trembling. She flinched when he reached down and tilted her chin up.

"Say it."

She knew what he wanted to hear from her lips, but she was reluctant. She abhorred his touch. The feel of his long fingers on her skin was causing her great distress, and that much was obvious to him.

"…I will-…I will obey whatever you say, Uchiha-sama…"

Silence. He let it drag out intentionally.

Madara bent down, his long black spikes hovering over her. His slow, seductive whisper brushed her lips. "I thought I told you to beg."

Her breath came out in short, anxious shudders. She didn't respond. Or, rather, she couldn't respond.

Cruel smirk of his lips. "You don't seem to understand the situation you are in."

"…Uchiha-sama, please-"

Still pretending to be obedient. That would soon change.

She froze, her terror reflected in her eyes.

Her fingers against his dark lush lips, the faintest of contacts. Preventing him from drawing any closer.

Ah.

Not the first time. Not even the second time.

It was the third time she had dared to refuse him.

"I see."

His hand closed around both her wrists, a painful grip. Madara yanked her up roughly to a stand.

Another sharp pull caused her to collide into him. "You would rather die, is that it?" he asked maliciously, next to her ear.

Oh, she was afraid. She couldn't speak. She wanted all of this to end. Blinking rapidly, Loreli managed a weak nod.

She flinched as he raised his hand, but it was only Mishura, his falcon, swooping down for a land in a blur of feathers, a patch of black in her beak.

Madara moved, dragging her forcefully after him.

This was it. Loreli didn't even feel like fighting it. She was both mentally and physically exhausted.

He threw her down none too gently, before a group of young Uchiha men who stopped in their training to salute their leader.

"Madara-sama."

"My gift to you, men," Madara said coldly. "Do what you want with her."

Varying degrees of surprise.

"But if you ever let her into my sight again," he told them menacingly, red eyes narrowing ominously, _"I'll kill you."_

Heads bowed in a solemn gesture signifying that they understood.

If their leader caught sight of a speck of hesitation at this point, they knew their lives would be forfeit.

Uchiha Madara did not make threats he did not intend to keep.

"Out of my sight!"

* * *

…

"Did not go well, huh?" Izuna mused to himself. He simply couldn't mistake Madara's chakra at murderous levels.

Izuna let out a sigh, still rubbing his scalp where the damn bird stole a lock of his spiked black hair at the top.

So, he lost the gamble. That was unfortunate.

Madara would want a word with him.

* * *

**...**

**A/N: **Ahh…Madara…too heartless T.T… And Izuna, he's kinda mean too LOL… Poor Loreli, you may think she's annoying but come on, as a normal girl she's absolutely _terrified_ of him at this point.


	7. The Hating Game

**A/N:** lol lemon… but 'lemon' is consensual isn't it (isn't it?)? are you sure you're not asking too much of me? Hahahahaha, that cracks me up. I'm kidding…have patience, I'll surely give you what you want ;)

* * *

**Till You Die**

6 – _The Hating Game_

* * *

The air had been positively electric the entire course of the meeting. Did he think they wouldn't be able to perceive it despite his outward indifference?

"Madara," Izuna ran his hand through his raven locks, maintaining a neutral expression "there are plenty of women who would be ecstatic to share your bed for one night."

…

…They were brothers, yes, but Izuna suspected the only fact which saved him was that these men in the meeting room were the same ones who had accompanied Madara on his trip, and they already had the gist of things. If Madara had reacted to that provocation, he would only further confirm their suspicions.

And Madara was not someone who could be led so easily.

Izuna raised an eyebrow in question, in response to the cold, unappreciative eyes looking up from the map in warning.

…So it was only her, huh? For whatever reason, it was only _that girl_ who had caught Madara's eye, and maybe even his interest. Too bad there were complications.

"Shall I teach you the proper way to court a woman?"

Definitely out of place in the meeting room, but no one would want to point that out to him, certainly not within this atmosphere.

"If you have time to talk about such useless things," Madara drawled coolly, straightening up and causing everyone else in the room to tense, "why don't you focus on your job as second-in-command?"

Izuna allowed a small frown to furrow his brows. "You are the one who brought her back. I don't approve of the example you are setting, clan leader."

There was the expression he had been waiting to see.

"…You don't approve?" Uchiha Madara asked lowly, quietly, lifting his hands away from the long table. He moved along the table's edge, on the opposite side of Izuna. Each person he passed by became rigid with the chill.

There was a damn good reason why Izuna was known as the only one who could go against Madara's word.

In one smooth motion, Izuna reached up and snatched the sheathed blade Madara had flung at him. He formed a small grin at the nostalgic feeling.

"Then talk to me with swords," Madara commanded him.

* * *

Loreli didn't know what was happening.

"This is the woman Madara-sama personally brought back, huh?" A snort. "And the one who got away with requesting him something in front of his men. I am in no hurry to die."

No, she wasn't dense enough to not have any idea, judging by the things they were saying, but…

A different person, scoffing. "He sounded serious to _me_. What, are you going to just disregard his order?"

Why did they leave her up in a tree? Did they seriously think that it would allow her a sense of security, being separated from their group? Or was it like a ninja thing?

"Tsch. Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" someone in the background snarled in response.

Voices. Interweaving.

"What did you say, bastard!"

Loreli heard, couldn't help but heard, and was experiencing difficulty in following their exchange. What…what absurd things they were accusing her of… And her head felt woozy, burning.

They were arguing amongst themselves. So hostile. Up till then Loreli hadn't known that shinobi of the same clan would treat each other with such aggression.

Disconcertment. To the point where one of them even pulled out a weapon.

"You are a disgrace to our clan," a voice, a steady and tranquil voice, rose above the meshing of voices.

A tall regal figure, agile build, accompanied by another shorter man, also wearing white.

At first Loreli had thought it would be Izuna, as all the other male members of the Uchiha clan seemed to wear black. It wasn't; the voice had been a notch deeper, but at the same time it lacked the harsh edge to Izuna's dauntless speech.

Restlessness stirred among the red-eyed shinobi. Undoubtedly that had been a particularly bad insult.

"Tsch." A biting retort, arms crossed. "This does not concern _you_, who are you to reproach us in this!"

Unfazed, unblinking, the white-clothed man gazed back at the one who had made that statement.

Coolly, unhurriedly, he replied. "I'd like to hear you repeat that to me the next time you receive a grievous injury in battle."

There were no further comments after that, although it didn't seem like they bothered to hide their animosity.

"Recent sharp drop in body temperature, no intake of nutrition in the past four days, fluctuating eye movements from lack of decent rest – fifty eight hours cumulative."

Loreli blinked down, realizing that he had approached her, observing aloud as if reciting from memory.

That was when she got her first surprise.

At close range Loreli was able to see that one of his long-lashed eyes was clearly blue, light blue in stark contrast to the red of his other eye.

"I will need to borrow her from you, men." Not a request. A statement.

"Wait," one of them spoke up, red eyes narrowing contemptuously, "she's-"

"The one who'd made more work than usual for the medics, I am aware," the tall man with the mismatched eyes replied calmly, not a shred of amusement present in his voice. He added, "And she's ill; in danger of entering delirium if I let her be."

The man gave an inclination of his head towards his assistant. "You go on."

An arm encircled her from behind, unexpectedly, startling her with his speed. Cool embrace. No compassion whatsoever.

"It'll only take a minute," he informed them. It wasn't that he acted superior; there was no arrogance in his demeanor. The man was simply ignoring their intimidations.

The next thing she knew, he had brought her down to ground level, his arm behind her back propelling her to walk.

"Stop here."

…Delirium.

A warm, uncomfortable feeling was bubbling up inside her throat. Maybe. Maybe it was. She was getting tired of being forced around, from one ninja to the next.

"Sit."

It was…not right. Not the same. She, having been on the receiving end of orders her whole life, not even she could endure living like this.

"That is unnecessary," Loreli found herself saying quietly, surprised at her own bluntness. "…If you want to ease my suffering..." Slowly, she peered up at him. "You have the ability."

No hesitation, no denial either. "Don't be so quick to throw away your life." Again, no emotion in his words. "Sit down," the man told her, "you will soon either way."

Her gaze did not waver. Perhaps it was owing to the fact that his eyes were different. He was the first Uchiha man she had been able to lock eyes with without flinching.

…Don't be so quick to throw away your life? …And then what?

That annoying, tickling sensation inside her chest. Bitterness.

"I'd never thought I'd receive advice on how to live my life from a ninja."

In answer, he brought his hands together for a brief moment. Her knees collapsed as soon as he laid his hands on them.

What-

Warmth. He started from her feet, the chakra from his hands working to relax and to send warmth into her tense muscles.

"You-"

"You are just a palace girl," he overrode her protest nonchalantly. "I wouldn't put on airs if I were you."

…Loreli pursed her lips.

She…couldn't find words to reply to that.

"Take a good look." Three fingers on the side of her head, gently but compellingly turning her to look back. "Every one of those warriors would know the true value of a life better than you."

…Speechless confusion. Enough that Loreli failed to pay attention to him carrying on his task.

"You sheltered people seem to think that you can know what life is without knowing what death is like, first." A condescending tone, if he had one. "Go ahead, cry about your pathetic excuses."

…An ice sculpture. That was what he was. Flawless and unfeeling.

And yet she stared as if mesmerized when he met her eyes, having received no response from her.

Cold simplicity. Dismissive words. Perhaps she didn't even reflect in his eyes.

…

His hair fell long and smooth past his shoulders, unlike the spiked stiffness possessed by the other males of his clan. If he had let his bangs cover up his red eye, he could've passed off as a normal person.

"What is your name?"

Loreli was surprised by her own question, and asked in such an informal tone. She didn't find it strange that he disregarded it.

A hand on her forehead, a cooling sensation pulsing forth.

It was irrational, terrible, insane…

It must be the disturbed state her mind was in. Loreli was unable to take her eyes off this man.

"Your stomach won't be able to handle anything other than warm liquids at this point. Aside from that, you will need rest." He might as well been talking to a wall, with such indifference. "Experiencing any more excitement may reverse the recovery process."

…That must be an easy thing for him to say.

…Was it so wrong? Was it so childish for her to be feeling this way after everything she'd been put through?

Loreli's eyes drooped. She spoke. "You think I'm a clueless girl who is ungrateful to be alive, and refusing your help because she wants sympathy."

He was ignoring her, at least until she retracted her arm when he tried to take her pulse.

A pause. He met her eyes, one red eye and the other blue.

"Why would I make such an assumption?" he asked her nonchalantly, disinterestedly.

It was uncanny, the way Loreli felt that she could tell what he was thinking despite his deadpan appearance.

"Because," Loreli replied with a faint, mirthless smile, "I am pretty."

He stared back at her blandly, steadily.

She waited for a response, knowing that one wasn't forthcoming.

"Pretty people get what they want too easily, so they are ungrateful for what they have, isn't that right?"

Why…was this… Before a complete stranger…

Words from her own lips. They shouldn't have affected her any.

"And you are mistaken if you think your tears will convince me otherwise," he told her coolly, getting up. "Take better care of your body, since that's the only thing you have going for you."

Wearily, Loreli reached up her hands to her temples. She couldn't believe herself.

…What was _wrong_ with her?

"Well…" soft smile, her eyes closed "…you are right."

An emptiness.

A life without dreams, without goals of her own. Never living for herself. Never having to work hard at anything for her own sake. She had nothing she was proud of. She didn't even know what things she liked.

Maybe she had always been waiting for someone to say that to her face. To tell her that she was a hollow character.

"Izuna-sama-"

Loreli snapped her eyes open.

Uchiha Izuna blinked once down at her appearance and asked, "Which one of them was it?"

His question was directed at her, she realized. Puzzled, Loreli glanced around and found that the medic earlier was gone.

Izuna's red eyes slid over to the cluster of shinobi behind him.

"Izuna-sama, we haven't done anything to her."

Ah… That was what he meant. Loreli wondered just how she looked liked at the moment.

Izuna glanced back at her. "Is this true?"

Somehow, she nodded.

"Consider yourselves fortunate," Izuna told them coolly. "I'll take her back now. You may leave."

Their apparent unease paled in comparison to her horror.

"Izuna-sama, we have Madara-sama's specific order to not-"

Izuna arched an eyebrow. That simple gesture cut him off.

"Have you ever seen Madara raise a hand against his own clan?" asked Izuna.

Silence. A prolonged, restless silence.

A mysterious smirk twitched up the corner of his lips. "Can you say the same for me?"

Loreli stared, stunned.

He had sounded amused. Looked amused.

But every one of them had tensed up, on guard.

"Who do you fear more," Izuna asked, that same disarmingly gentle smile on his ethereal features, "Madara, or me?"

…This atmosphere…

One of them was brave enough to speak out. "But, Izuna-sama-"

It was quick, sudden. She had no idea what actually happened. There was a swirling sound of misplaced air, and the man who had spoken flew, skidding a good distance back, as if from an invisible impact.

The tomoes in his Sharingan winding down to a still, Izuna remarked authoritatively, "Wrong answer."

…

A glance to the rest of the men. "Any other objections?" he asked coolly.

Stunned. Loreli couldn't move the tips of her fingers.

…This was…Uchiha Izuna's true face…?

"No, Izuna-sama…"

They bowed and took their leave. She would have done the same if she were in their place. She didn't want…she didn't want to be left alone with this man.

"You thought I was the nicer brother," Izuna guessed, eyebrow quirked and an amused smile.

"Well…" He reached down for her, earning a jolt in surprise from her as he scooped her up in his arms. "You would be right. Except, I am also the second-in-command. The leader's name must remain clean."

"Liar…" Loreli said softly, trying to pull away, and he was content in letting her roll around in his arms.

Izuna frowned. "Which part?"

…Which _part?_ He didn't give off an impression of being trustworthy as far as she was concerned.

Loreli gave up struggling, as it was futile. Instead, she eyed him warily. "…What kind of rumor have you been spreading about me?"

An appreciative smirk. "How did you know it was me?"

…

He was doing that again; messing with her just because he could.

Seeing that she had pursed her lips indignantly, Izuna took the initiative.

"I'll admit I've underestimated you. You've gotten me in quite some trouble."

…Even though Loreli knew what he meant by that, she wasn't about to apologize.

"If word gets around that you've fallen out of Madara's favor, I daresay you wouldn't be as lucky as this time."

That familiar knot of anxiety was back. "What are you-?"

"I'm saying, there is a way to get out of your current predicament," Izuna replied. Charming smile, eyes creased. Deceptively angelic appearance. "Become his woman."

He didn't release her, as she had hoped. Izuna simply turned his head to the side so that her elbow caught him on the side of his head.

A sigh.

"My type is actually the strong and feisty kunoichi, but, I guess it can't be helped."

Loreli stared at him incredulously. It was either he had lost his mind, or she had. She couldn't follow what he was saying. He couldn't, couldn't mean-

Izuna adjusted his arms, holding her upright. "It'd be a shame, someone so young and sweet. I'd need to defend your honor, wouldn't I?"

She paused. "…I don't understand." Or more like…she didn't want to know.

Slight grin, for he knew she understood more than she admitted. Nonetheless he put it into words.

"How about it?" Amused. "I'm the only one who's on par with Madara's influence. I can guarantee your protection, if you will become mine instead."

A false dilemma. Apparently this man liked toying around with her. Unfortunately, Loreli didn't find it very amusing. She wasn't going to give him a reaction he was hoping for.

"Hn. Looks like I can't win you over." Izuna decided to let that drop. "I don't see what's there to be so stubborn in this matter."

He didn't seem to care that many people were witnessing this scene, having brought her back to the center complex, with her renewing her struggling.

…It was that horror all over again. The ugly emotions which had somehow abated during her short exchange with the medic earlier came back at her with a vengeance, like a blow.

"It's not uncommon for a leader of a clan to keep a few mistresses," Izuna remarked. "It's not like I'm asking you for your life. The only reason why you've caught his interest is probably that you keep refusing him, hm? Isn't that how it works? Don't you think it's smarter to give in and wait till he gets tired of you?"

…Horrible man.

It didn't matter if he was still toying with her or not. How could someone say such horrible, horrible things?

No… She didn't-…she didn't want to be forced into such things.

"Help me!" Loreli begged the number of bewildered eyes as they passed through the hall.

Panic, gripping her in a painful hold.

"Please help me!"

Izuna blinked when two of the younger women intercepted his path with heads lowered in respect.

"Izuna-sama, your presence has been requested at the conference," they informed him.

A contemplative pause.

"I didn't want to resort to this," Loreli heard him admit, sighing, as he placed her down in front of him. Two fingers reached up to tap his cheekbone. "Look here."

She looked into his spinning Sharingan, unthinkingly, because her gaze had naturally followed the movement of his arm. She stilled.

…

…What…

"…What did you do to me?" Loreli asked when the black tomoes slowed to a stop.

"Calmed you down a bit," explained Izuna. "I will give you two days to think things over rationally." He gave a nod to the women. "I'll be back shortly. Don't leave her side and, if possible, keep her away from Madara, understand?"

"Yes, Izuna-sama."

Loreli placed her fingertips together, disbelieving. She really had stopped shaking. What kind of power…did all of them possess such ability?

"Then it's true? Regarding the brothers…"

Loreli looked to the two Uchiha women conversing amongst themselves after Izuna had left.

"That crazy stunt Izuna-sama wants to pull off? He said two days, just now."

Rather than inquiring into what they were saying, Loreli found her attention diverted to the figure across the hall.

"…That man, who is he?" she asked quietly.

Both women blinked and turned to look at the two men leaving the conference area. Then they glanced back at her knowingly.

"That's the head medic," Loreli was informed. "He really stands out doesn't he?"

It was true. She'd be able to pick him out easily among a crowd of other Uchiha men.

"You know," one woman's voice interrupted her thoughts, "the Uchiha bloodline does not cultivate exceptional medics. You can probably tell by his eyes that he is a special case."

"A mix blood," Loreli guessed.

"The word is that the mother was a medic-nin from another clan, but even so, something like this had never happened before. Normally one bloodline will dominate over the other, yet the twins were a perfect half, only able to awaken the Sharingan in one eye."

"His brother used to cover his non-Sharingan eye with his hair while he was alive. This one doesn't seem to care what the others think of him, however. Well, he's the _head _medic, after all; healing power from his mother's side, massive chakra and the Sharingan from the Uchiha. No other medics can match his knowledge and ability."

That one line caught her attention.

"His twin brother …" she trailed off.

"Died two years back. It was hard on him; he hadn't been the same ever since."

A tug of guilt. Loreli suppressed it.

"It's not like it's a secret," the other woman commented, albeit hesitantly. "Rather, it's a very well-known fact that it wasn't just any death."

Loreli looked to her in question.

"It was _suicide_."

Loreli reached a hand up to her mouth, involuntarily.

…

…She had said something inappropriate to him earlier.

"Ah?" they inquired after her as she moved away from them.

He saw her long before she neared him. It he recognized her or even cared, none of it showed in his expressionless, mismatched eyes.

If Loreli hadn't approached him directly up front, she suspected he might've gone past without a second glance.

"I…"

He came to a stop, a few feet before her. His assistant blinked and raised his brows in inquiry.

"I feel as though I should apologize for what I've said earlier," Loreli admitted tonelessly.

His eyes, half-veiled by his long lashes, did not even flicker at the implication of her words, holding her gaze.

After what seemed to be a moment of sizing her up, he responded.

"Don't be. It was never my intention to console you."

Loreli hesitated, watching him go around her to continue on his way.

A regretful feeling. What was wrong with her?

"Wait-…"

And she had called out to him. What was she going to say, then?

He glanced back at her. Loreli hesitated.

For a moment his eyes flickered over her shoulder, then back to her.

"Ingra."

She blinked.

"Ingra," he repeated in his deep tranquil voice, turning away. "Remember that name."

…

Remember that name?

Loreli stared after him. But it was unlikely that she'd forget.

Approaching footsteps.

"Izuna-sama," the two women who had followed behind her greeted their clan's second-in-command.

Izuna's strong arm encircled her shoulders from behind. Loreli glanced up at the shinobi beside her as he got her to walk.

"You can't befriend that man."

She tried to discern his tone of voice. It was difficult.

"…Why?" Loreli asked him.

His eyes closed, his smile gentle. It was impossible to read his expression.

The only answer Izuna gave her was a cryptic one.

"Not that one."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Yes, this chapter is completely necessary. If you think this chapter is boring – grrr imagine me having to restart it three times in an effort to make it more interesting (but I don't blame you)! I had to delay the fun stuff till next chapter T.T

Eh, and out of all the potential guys, if Loreli falls for the _ice cube, _Ingra, I'm going to laugh – hysterically. But we'll have to wait and see...


	8. Entrapment

**A/N:** No worries about the huge cast; these are and will remain the main players, despite whatever's to come. I don't like keeping track of OCs myself, so_ Ingra_ is the only one you need to remember.

Admittedly, I've never been good at naming characters, so my apologies that you must suffer with me LOL.

My main characters, for instance, always have a ridiculous made-up name which takes me approximately 5 seconds to decide upon, because I don't want any connotations attached before I start developing their characters. The rest, I'm not looking for a common or even an authentic Japanese name, for me the name has to _sound _like the character's speech and actions. When I write a character's lines their name just keeps repeating over and over inside my head, so I'm really sensitive to the way the name _sounds _and not as much to what the name means.

* * *

**Till You Die**

7 – _Entrapment _

* * *

Early morning. The air cold on his skin as he whipped the black glove off his hand.

On second thought, Madara tugged it back on. He might just be needing it.

…

Pacing languidly, observing the scene laid out before him.

A large spectacle like this, Izuna had done it once before. When the two brothers had competed over the position of leader.

Red eyes narrowed suspiciously at Izuna, on the opposite end of the field. He knew that fight for leadership was nothing more than a ruse, a demonstration of power, to silence any question over the elder brother's superiority. Izuna did not have a single ambitious bone in his body. Yet, they were equals.

Madara drew his gaze away from his opponent for a moment, scanning the premises and the clansmen gathered for the event.

Since it was Uchiha _Izuna's_ idea to amplify a simple duel into something like this, there could be nothing innocent involved with it. Those who knew Izuna well were aware that the younger brother silently opposed warfare and bloodshed, loathed having fame even more. He had a reason for doing this, with less than honorable intentions, if he had chosen not to offer any enlightenment. Yet, Madara did not deny him.

…

Impatience.

Uchiha Madara did not like having his patience tested.

"Izuna."

Izuna looked up at his sharp voice.

"That is the third time you checked over your weapon," Madara almost snarled.

Izuna raised a thin eyebrow. "You counted?"

Madara halted in his pacing. Izuna correctly interpreted it as a warning to drop his ridiculous antics _at once._

"I was thinking," said Izuna, absently spinning his twin swords with his fingers, "last time we used weapons didn't we? How about we go barehanded this time?"

Izuna raised his eyebrow in query to the cold, calculating expression Madara wore.

Low, smooth question. "What are you up to, Izuna?"

A corner of Izuna's lips quirked up. He was in no hurry to give an honest response, however.

"You remember the conditions for when we fought last time?" asked Izuna.

They had begun circling, leisurely pace, warily keeping their eyes on their opponent across the gap between them.

Madara tossed his weapon to one of his men at the sidelines as he passed by.

The previous fight, yes. The loser would submit to the command of the winner. Madara became the head of the clan, and Izuna his most loyal supporter.

"You wish to revoke that wager?" questioned Madara, unfazed, arms behind his back.

Mirroring his action, Izuna also tossed his weapons away to one side.

Although he submitted to his brother's command without hesitation, Uchiha Izuna had never been in any way inferior to Madara, and they were both well aware of this fact. Nevertheless, Madara was not concerned.

"I am not that dishonorable a man," Izuna replied with a helpless shrug. "All I have is a simple request."

One of Madara's long brows arched slightly. "A request?"

It was the first time Izuna had openly made him a request.

Madara regarded him warily, continuing to circle. "Speak."

Izuna smirked lightly. "That girl you brought back," he said.

Halt.

Izuna quirked an eyebrow, innocently. "Since you won't claim responsibility, permit me to send her back."

Long, suspenseful lull. Madara's aura had darkened considerably.

Madara's cold voice matched his eyes. "The reason for this spectacle." Not even a question.

"Pretty much," replied Izuna.

Madara took his gaze away for a second, absently retaking in the scene. He drew his arms from behind his back, bringing his gloved hands before him. Cracked his knuckles.

Bringing him out for a preposterous reason like this. Madara's eyes narrowed murderously. Izuna was going to _pay_.

No sooner than that thought was complete did Izuna find himself evading Madara's fist by a hair's breadth – a punch which would've at least gave him a broken nose if it had connected.

Izuna scoffed in amusement, "Why are you getting so riled up?" Just in time to phase out from the path of Madara's swing.

Madara straightened and turned to glare coldly at Izuna, who had reappeared several yards behind him.

A flash of white, in response to a blur of black.

"I'll confess," Izuna spoke, parrying his heavy blows. "I like to hold her."

An uppercut broke through Izuna's guard. The younger shinobi leapt back with the force of the hit.

Not even a second's worth of rest. Izuna ducked the back spin kick coming from behind and threw up his arms to block the follow-up.

"Madara," Izuna drawled out his name. "I'm not returning the girl lest you defeat me."

Madara's frown deepened ominously.

An immediate difference, causing Izuna to smirk. The eyes which knew no familiarity, no love. This was the great Uchiha Madara who struck fear into every enemy shinobi out on the battlefields.

His speed was unmatched. His strength deadly. Not even Izuna was a match for him in terms of attack speed when Madara became serious.

And right then Madara's killing intent was at its best.

The heel of his sandals tore up the earth as Izuna blocked and relocated, only to have to block again from the relentless onslaught. Clean evasions were no longer possible at this point. Whatever retreat Izuna made, Madara could foresee it with his eyes.

"I'm serious," Izuna added. "I thought you didn't care what happens to her."

Loud rush of air. Dizzying speed.

Izuna fell back. He wasn't given time to recover. His eyes could see the moves, yes, but reacting in time was on a whole other level.

Panting, with a bruised lip, Izuna stood back up from the spot he had landed – crashed up – against.

Oh yes, such brutality to his own brother. Izuna doubled over, catching his breath in the momentary break in their fight.

Uchiha Madara's merciless eyes glared coldly at down at his opponent.

"Are you done messing around!" spat Madara. Furious.

He was furious, his mangekyou threatening to take over in his rage.

Whereas Madara wielded stamina and speed as his strongest attributes, Izuna had timing and dexterity at his ease.

Madara was blessed with exceptional chakra, even compared to the other Uchiha warriors, but Izuna was gifted with exceptional focus and balance, the fastest jutsu summoner in any given situation.

They were perfect complements for one another. They were equals.

Despite how it might appear to the observers, _none_ of Madara's attacks have managed to land cleanly. On top of that, Izuna was even attempting to make small talk, a clear sign that he wasn't taking this seriously.

Carrying through with the momentum of his opponents' attacks to nullify the impact; it was Izuna's way of wearing down his enemies while conserving energy, but for him to attempt it on Madara while _knowing _the extent of his stamina.

Izuna was fooling around.

Madara was _pissed_.

"My weapon!" barked Madara, holding out one gloved hand. The man who had it hurriedly tossed it over.

Izuna raised an eyebrow at him quizzically.

Maliciously. "You want me to listen to your ridiculous request?" Madara snarled. "Face me seriously!"

Smirk. Izuna straightened, pretense discarded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Smug expression as he caught his swords which were tossed to him. "That's what I've been waiting to hear, _Madara_."

It is said that it takes an opponent of equal skill to bring out the true potential in a warrior. That certainly was the case between the two brothers.

Power, limitless and raw. Bloodlust, unquenchable and unsuppressed.

The earth shook and the clouds rippled.

This was the reason why the brothers, when together, was said to be untouchable.

A battle between two _monsters_.

Steel rang on steel. Madara's range versus Izuna's nimbleness. An ordinary ninja wouldn't be able to get near Madara with that gigantic metal fan of his. An ordinary ninja wouldn't be able to keep Izuna at bay, either. If Madara hadn't known better, he'd think that Izuna was infuriating him on purpose. This setting reminded him too vividly of a fly and a flyswatter.

Madara has had enough of this game.

Izuna saw what was coming. Tossing his swords up to the air, he followed suit, avoiding the violent swing of the scythe attached to the end of Madara's weapon with a long chain. If he let Madara form his seals, things would potentially get very, very ugly.

Unfortunately for him, Izuna's jutsu speed had the upper hand. Madara shifted his stance, deflecting the grand fireball techniques with mighty one-handed sweeps of his fan.

At the sidelines, clansmen scattered apart as the rolling spheres of inferno scorched its way through.

Liquid fire. Intense heat. Madara took a step back, holding his ground as he braced his free hand against the back of his metal fan, shielding himself from Izuna's unrelenting firebreath. It had been the right choice keeping the gloves on.

Snarling, Madara pushed forward, yelling, "This is the end, Izuna!"

Izuna reacted, leaping back just as Madara broke through. Flashing metal. The whipping of chains, attempting to ensnare him. Ensnare? If he got caught in that, he'd be as good as dead.

A harsh jerk on the chain, interrupting Madara's seals. Izuna had speared through the loops with one sword, impaling into the ground, using it as an anchor as he stepped on the chain to reach his opponent.

A spinning blow. Sword met shield as the two equally powerful shinobi strained for dominance.

Eyes locked behind their weapons. One pair of mangekyou triggering the other.

Stillness.

It was Izuna who broke away first, a split second before an explosion engulfed the. Every piece of flat earth on the field cracked and sunk a few feet down, at various angles.

"Enough," Izuna's voice coughed through the smokescreen in surrender. "I get it."

Madara, across the crater from him, had one bruised eye, blood trickling down his nose, cuts and scrapes on his face and bleeding slashes that had torn through his clothes. Izuna guessed that his own appearance was in a similar state. They were both catching their breaths.

"Looks like I can't win against you, after all," Izuna openly announced. He straightened, heard something make a small pop in protest. Wince.

"Very well," declared Izuna, resignedly, leaning his head to one side and hearing his neck crack.

…

He kneaded the back of his neck before continuing his statement. Quelling Madara's suspicious glare could wait.

"I will approve of you officially making her your woman."

Let's have that again.

"I said I approve of you officially making her your woman," repeated Izuna with a frown. "Are you really going to throw her aside after you've just nearly killed me to take her back from me?" Sly grin. "Because that would be…insulting."

Silence.

It all fell into place, bit by bit. Izuna came around to him, casual and unhurried, speaking in a normal tone again so that only he could hear.

"Madara. That look." Izuna's eyes creased in a pleased smile. "It's priceless."

In response, Madara's obsidian-black eyes reactivated into the Sharingan, menacingly.

This jinx of a brother. It all made sense now.

Foreboding aura. But even as displeased as he was, Madara shut his glare, blinking out his Sharingan.

He would never admit it, but Izuna had won this round. A dry, mirthless smirk tugged his dark lips. Madara could not humiliate his_ dear_ little brother before all these people.

Izuna slapped his shoulder with his gloves. Quirked brow. "Didn't think I'd get you back for keeping things from me?" Tried and failed to contain laughter. Pleasant laugh. And a grimace from the pain of his cracked rib.

But Izuna was still laughing as he made to the side of the field. Madara's expression had been totally worth it.

"Damn, someone get me a medic!"

* * *

She paced the interior of the small room. Sat down on the chair before the mirror. Got up and went around the room again.

Loreli couldn't keep still.

Two women, the same ones who had been brave enough to intercept Uchiha Izuna's path the other day, had woke her up earlier.

They had wanted to help her wash. Fine enough.

They had wanted to help her dress. Alright.

They had wanted to do her hair. She could've done it herself, if she wanted to.

When they wanted to apply makeup on her and to stuff accessories into her hair, Loreli has had enough. She told them, politely as possible in her situation, to tell _Izuna-sama_ that if he had anything to say, he should come tell it to her face.

So she was alone. Unnerving anxiety.

When he had said two days, did he mean two days including or excluding today?

No-…what was she thinking? What difference did it make?

It was not like she ever had a choice, no matter how she looked at it.

But she still really hoped nothing was going to happen today.

A knock.

"Yes," replied Loreli, instinctively, her heart pounding.

Uchiha Izuna. A small perplexed frown on his face.

"I hope you didn't call me here to help you dress instead."

Loreli pursed her lips.

"Ah." He folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe. "So you've thought about what I said?"

She was hesitant, checking behind him to see if anyone else would hear. Her answer was simple, however.

"Yes."

Her fingers twisting the fabric of her garments, Loreli paused before elaborating. She had come to a decision.

"I have…decided to be brave…so…" If she said that, then why were her eyes averting themselves from his of their own accord? She struggled to smooth the wince off her face. "If Madara-sama still-…I will-…"

"I get it," said Izuna, surprisingly considerate of her rising anguish. "What is your condition?"

It was a relief that he wasn't trying to make this any harder on her than it already was. Loreli steadied herself and regained her composure.

"When…Madara-sama tires of me, will you send me home-…no, anywhere else from here?"

Pleasant smile. He really was capable of charming expressions, especially when his eyes weren't red.

"Is that all?" Izuna asked. "Hn. Naturally, I will grant you that request."

Nothing else which needed to be said. Izuna left her to her silent musings. A second later the door reopened.

"Really," he added innocently, a reassuring smile. The door closed again.

…

Loreli was still eyeing the door unappreciatively when the two Uchiha women reentered.

"Please, let us do your face. We have to make you shine tonight."

…

Loreli had not shifted her gaze from the door.

That Izuna. He had sounded like he was holding back from laughing.

She was suspicious. She couldn't help but to have second thoughts on her decision.

"Ah…Where-?" one of the women started to ask as Loreli reached the door.

In a huff, Loreli swung the door open and almost collided into-

…him…

She didn't need to look up to recognize his sinister presence.

Uchiha Madara.

…

Loreli backed up, instinctively, when he entered. Every other thought was lost.

What was this atmosphere…? She couldn't quite put a name to it.

Long fingers grasped the fabric of her long, embodiered outer robe.

"Is this the best?" Madara asked curtly, with a frown at the two Uchiha women in the room.

Without waiting for a reply, he ordered, "Bring her the best!"

His harsh voice caused a shudder to run through her. Loreli felt her stomach squeeze tightly, nervous.

With murmurs of 'Yes, Madara-sama', the other women left the room.

Silence.

He released her robe. Dark eyes watching down at her intently.

Loreli swallowed, reminding herself that the women were to return.

He stepped forward, she moved back.

Right up till her back came up against the wall she had forgotten was there.

The tall shinobi placed his hands on either side on the wall, bending down to her eye level, causing her spine to rigidify.

Loreli felt trapped. She had nowhere else to look.

Low, smooth voice. "You will not refuse me in front of my men," he told her coolly, each syllable distinct. A warning.

Bewildered and fearful, she nodded her acknowledgement.

Not in front of his men.

Not in front of his men?

Loreli opened her mouth to speak, but the feel of his fingers beneath her chin silenced her.

"I trust that Izuna has made you aware of the state of events?" asked Madara, musingly, his features sharp and alluring. Dark magnetism.

He was too close. She was too cornered. Loreli felt compelled to nod again, regardless of the uneasiness.

"Heh."

His cool fingers, sliding along the skin of her throat. Light grip. He brought himself closer, his sharp handsome face hovering inches above hers.

Dark eyes slimmed slightly. "And you consented?" his dark sinister voice inquired of her.

She figured out what it was. This atmosphere.

Before, he had scorned her for refusing him, but at that moment it felt like he wanted to _kill her_ for agreeing to this, as well. Why…

Loreli swallowed, knowing that he could feel the motion beneath his fingertips, as well as her erratic pulse.

"…What-…whatever you want me to say, Uchiha-sama…"

For a long moment they remained like that, his expression stoic.

…

Madara straightened authoritatively, turning towards the door. "Come in!" he commanded.

"Madara-sama." Holding out the layers of bright embroidered fabrics, the women reentered. "Will these do?"

She had slept too much in the past two days. That must be why she couldn't seem to keep up with what was happening.

With one hand, the leader of the clan picked out a deep red-maroon kimono. He glanced back at her.

"Don't keep me waiting," said Madara, more to the woman to whom he tossed the kimono he had selected.

Then he left the room.

Loreli slowly sank down against the wall.

She was still wrapped in a light-headed daze when the Uchiha women supported her up and got her ready.

Maybe she wouldn't be able to do this, after all.

She could think rationally. She could handle the thoughts alone. But as soon as he appeared before her, there was only that numb, mindless haze of anxiety, constricting her chest and her throat.

And…what was this…? A public acknowledgement of her as his mistress?

"Madara-sama, she is ready."

No, Loreli wasn't ready. Not mentally.

He was even dressed up for the occasion. A sleek black kimono and outer robe which bore the symbol of the Uchiha clan. It did more justice to his lithe and magnificent frame than his usual loose clothing.

The long-haired shinobi made no comment, only held out his hand.

Madara was watching her with half-lidded eyes, warily. It was like he was expecting her to act out in rebellion.

…Which was exactly what Loreli felt like doing. She reached up and placed her hand in his before she debated it any more.

Why was he so solemn?

…

Did there have to be so many people in the halls?

The uneasy feeling inside her stomach did a little flip.

And Izuna. Uchiha Izuna couldn't be trusted.

"…I need to use the restroom," Loreli said weakly, sounding – and feeling – very much out of air.

The cold sweat in her palm, surely he could feel it. Drawing her hand closer, Madara gave her a cold, sidelong glance.

"Please, I need to use the restroom, _now._"

He relinquished the hold on her hand. Immediately she was off.

Impossible. Preposterous.

No one else was within the restrooms. Loreli slammed the door shut and leaned her back against it.

A shallow, mirthless laugh escaped her.

She was overreacting.

Surely she was over thinking things because they did things differently here.

Pacing in agitation, Loreli cast frantic glances around her.

Could she break that mirror? How long does it take a person to bleed to death? Oh-! What kind of horrible thoughts were those!

But would it cause her to wake up?

This wasn't real.

This wasn't real.

…

Two minutes.

Uchiha Madara listened to her restless footsteps with narrowing eyes. He wasn't a patient man. It had been a trying day. His patience was at murderous low.

Signaling to two of the Uchiha guards present, Madara commanded sharply, "Break down that door!"

They did as he bid them without question. The door was brought down with one blow, and they stepped aside to allow him through.

He found her, back flattened against the wall at the opposite end of the room.

Madara did not approach her, his face expressionless, allowing his cold, arrogant stare to do the speaking.

This delicate female who his _dear brother_ had chosen for him.

Dark eyes narrowed ominously at the thought.

"So."

She flinched from the sound of his voice.

Madara held out his hand. Sternly. "Come to me."

She shook her head lightly.

His eyes darkened. His voice softer, deadlier. "You won't?"

She didn't respond, didn't move.

Madara's tolerance was at an end.

She sank down as he approached her.

"What is it that you want?" A malicious demand. "You think I won't be able to give it to you?"

An unsteady intake of breath. She remained motionless otherwise.

He reached down for her right foot.

Loreli cried out from the shock and the pain, gasping.

Immediately the tall shinobi swept her up in his powerful arms. She was in too much pain to struggle.

"My_ bride" _distasteful emphasis on that word "seems to have sprained her ankle," Madara said to the clansmen in the hallway. "I shall carry her."

Monster. Oh, monster.

…

Izuna kneaded his forehead at the scene, when they entered the main hall where everyone was gathered.

As expected, Madara really wasn't capable of gentle persuasion at this stage. Not that it would've helped any.

"The priest." Madara set the girl down, one arm keeping her in place.

Izuna raised one eyebrow at the expressions. "I will be giving the blessing."

"You?" Madara practically snarled.

Izuna shrugged helplessly. "I am your brother, why ever not?"

An unwilling groom. An unwilling bride. No way was he going to be facing their backs and missing all the expressions. They made a pretty good couple, if you asked him. Visually.

Except…

"What happened to her?" asked Izuna with a frown.

"She's in pain," Madara replied curtly. "Can we move on?"

"I won't…accept this…" Loreli hissed from next to him, gritting her teeth and straining to keep her agony from her voice.

Izuna. This was undoubtedly Izuna's doing. He must be holding back from laughing at this point.

Oh, she hated them. She hated them both.

"Very well. I shall proceed with the purification ritual." Having said that, Izuna started flickering droplets of water from a bowl on them both.

…That wasn't how it goes. Izuna was messing around.

Madara was furious.

A dark, silent rage, rolling off him in waves. Loreli couldn't shake off the uncanny feeling that he was about to lash out in any second.

What was this…before all these people…

Did they not care that she might protest this publicly? And here Izuna was fooling around.

Madara's arm around her around her, preventing her from escape. A wave of panic washed over her.

"Izuna."

"No, I don't want this!"

Izuna snorts. "Alright, since you're both so impatient."

What in the _world?_

Loreli regarded Izuna with pursed lips as he performed the ritual, properly this time.

So this man was the mastermind. She should have known.

Which was worse? Refusing Uchiha Madara before all his followers or facing what would potentially be a lifelong lasting nightmare married to him?

Loreli stood still, refusing to bow in respect to their ancestors. She would not be forced into this.

Why was there no one in the crowd picking up on this vibe? Was it not the first time for a woman to be forced into marriage in this clan?

Madara looked to her from the side. He straightened slowly from his bow, long hair falling back to frame his impassive face.

His hand moved up to the back of her neck, long fingers grasping her firmly.

"_My dear,"_ long eyebrow arched mockingly, "this is when you bow to the altar."

He pressed her down to a bow, repeating the action himself. She almost toppled over from the lack of balance her sprained ankle gave her.

Loreli bit her lip, in anger and in humiliation. In terms of strength, there was no way she could resist him.

This couldn't be happening…

"Drink."

Madara took the bowl Izuna passed him. He threw his head back, majestic mane tumbling, downing the sake with one swig.

"I like that," Izuna remarked with a smile, eyes creased. "But, you were supposed to drink it in three sips. Do it again."

Killing aura.

Izuna apparently decided to let it slip. He offered a bowl to her. "Here."

"Skip hers," snapped Madara.

Izuna frowned. "Ohh. I don't like that."

Sinister suspense.

…

"I have spoiled you too much I suppose," Madara observed, coolly, dangerous.

"But," Izuna reminded him, "the bride has to drink this, it's part of the ritual."

As if she would. Madara probably knew that, which was why he had told Izuna to skip hers.

Loreli found the bowl placed in her hands. She stared at it wryly, torn between wanting to laugh, wanting to throw it back in Izuna's face, or to break down and scream.

And knowing Izuna, it could be drugged or something. There was no way she was drinking it.

But for some reason she couldn't seem to drop it either. It was like…she was afraid – no…she was in _shock._

In the end Loreli could only stare down at it, frozen.

Impatience.

Deadly impatience.

Madara has had _enough _of this outrage.

In a motion too fast for her eyes to follow, he swept the bowl away from her hands.

The next thing she was aware of was his lips slamming down against her own, her mouth parting in shock.

Loreli choked and swallowed, couldn't breathe, couldn't move away because his hands were holding her in place. Her lips _burned_ from the force of his action.

When he finally released her, she staggered, gasping for air, his arm around her waist keeping her from toppling over.

With his free hand Madara held out the now empty bowl to Izuna, arching a long mocking eyebrow. "Good enough?"

Izuna regained his composure quickly enough. But he couldn't keep the laughter out of his voice. "And now," he declared, drawing out a slip of paper he had prepared, "I need the couple to repeat the vows."

Madara glared suspiciously. Izuna was holding back laughter. He might have done something to the vows.

"That is unnecessary!" Madara announced curtly.

Loreli was still faint when she felt herself being lifted up. Suddenly she realized he had seated her up on his arm, turning around to display her to everyone present.

"I, Uchiha Madara," the Uchiha clan's leader declared to his followers, "take this woman as my honored wife, the mistress of this clan, and as long as I am in power, so shall she remain."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Ahh, brotherly love. LOL.

I am aware in the manga it is claimed that Madara and Izuna are equals "in every way", but if I had stuck with that I think it would've made a pretty boring fight to read. You'll probably see me interpreting many other things differently as well, for your sakes.

And er…I followed a translation of Kishimoto's ninja databooks (the one found in onemanga's naruto forums, stickied) which states Izuna had quite the opposite personality to Madara's – which I don't find surprising given that the manga author loves character foils. So I'm not _totally_ making this up…you can go check…


	9. Bloodred Primrose

**A/N:** Let's answer some questions:

Okay, I think I figured out what's confusing. Izuna led Madara into the fight with taunts in the beginning of last chapter. Madara didn't give much thought to what Izuna was saying, he was only mad that Izuna was fooling around. In the end Izuna had managed to make it appear to everyone else that Madara was pissed off because Izuna wanted to take Loreli away from him. If Madara had denied what Izuna said at the end of their fight, it would have seemed like he didn't want the girl but still refuses to give her to Izuna, and Madara chose not to embarrass Izuna like that. So, it wasn't that Madara had fallen in love with her yet (…or who knows?), he was only appeasing Izuna with the marriage thing.

So, that having been said. The love potion? ...No, you haven't missed anything yet.

My OC's names… Hmm… I go for the sound. For instance, I wanted Loreli's name to have a sweet ring to it, but not short enough to make it sound cute or immature. And Ingra, for example, curt and impressionable (I kinda hate how short it looks on the screen though).

My gratitude, Tige321 and eimi, for confirming that databook translation ^^ And you're welcome, eimi, thank you for reviewing!

* * *

**Till You Die**

8 – _Bloodred Primrose_

* * *

Daze.

It was a lie.

Not real.

She would say that confidently, except…

The pain shooting up her calf was a little too real for her tastes.

…

No. Unbelievable.

And he was seriously expecting her to take a seat, kneeling, at the head table next to him with a sprained ankle?

Aha…

But it was either that, or to remain standing with a sprained ankle. Loreli wasn't sure if there was a difference.

This man really was merciless.

…

…What is _with _the people in here? The festive mood did not seem forced. Did no one truly notice the strain over at the head table in the main hall?

Loreli was. angry.

A quiet, burning rage deep inside her chest.

Why wouldn't she be angry?

This man had brought her hell since day one, and now through a twist of fate, she was _married _to him. _Against her will._

It must be divine punishment for not having the courage to go against Yuzuzu-hime's orders.

Loreli missed her _life._

"Eat."

She clenched her jaw at his command, immobile.

"Or I'll take it as a sign that you're impatient."

He hadn't even glanced to the side at her as he said that, his tone mocking.

Loreli knew he didn't give a damn whether or not she ate well. He only wanted her to behave in front of his men.

…

Not in front of his men.

Not in front of his men, huh?

Reaching down for her soup bowl, Loreli acted on a sudden, violent impulse, dumping the contents over his shoulder, the hot liquid pouring down his hair and arm.

…

"…My hand slipped. I seem to have a habit."

And all at once, it had gone silent throughout the hall. So, despite appearances, it looked like they were all paying attention to here after all.

How was that? Going to strike back at his _'honored wife'_ in front of his men?

…

Slowly, agonizingly slow, Uchiha Madara set his chopsticks down.

A suspenseful hush. No one moved. With the exception of Uchiha Izuna, who was attempting to cough up something that had gone down the wrong tract.

…Same slow pace, Madara turned to face her.

Lightly, with one long eyebrow raised slightly in mock question, "I see. Do you require me to feed you?"

…

"…No."

With a small jerk of his head, Madara signaled to one woman attending to their tables.

"My wife is distressed by her ankle sprain." That was all he needed to say.

Oh, so _now _he cared her ankle sprain, Loreli thought wryly as the Uchiha woman helped her to her feet.

Malevolent vibe from the leader of the Uchiha clan, as she was brought away. She almost regretted her action. Almost, just not quite.

If she were fortunate enough, perhaps he would take it out on Izuna.

* * *

They brought her ice.

Lots of ice.

Too bad the pain was too hard to handle having anything placed on it.

Loreli couldn't believe the swelling had gotten this bad. The kneeling must have done the trick.

"My goodness," an elder woman chided her, "how careless of you, and on your wedding day no less."

Loreli didn't bother with explanations.

She didn't know exactly what kind of impression the women have of their clan leader, but she could guess that to them, he would be some type of hero. To her, it was the complete opposite.

"Well, what is there to be done?" they conversed aloud, openly "She can't go through her wedding night like this, can she?"

Loreli winced at the reminder.

Oh Kami-sama. Kami-sama- she had-…he had-…they had _kissed!_

No. Calm down.

There is no way.

There is no way.

He had not appeared any different from before when they were together in the main hall. And that should be the least of her worries at this point.

Unfortunately the women mistook her reaction for something else.

"Let's fetch a medic. No, fetch the head medic."

Loreli grimaced. "…The head medic, for this?" She remembered that cold, regal man. She could imagine his reaction. "No…that isn't necessary…"

Nevertheless they insisted. "He's the only one out of them who can probably have you healed straight away."

It didn't look like they were going to back down. Plus, Loreli hurt too much to want to be thinking up a suitable excuse at the moment.

"…Alright, if you please."

Two of them went. The rest remained with her instead of returning to the festivities.

They really didn't have to be here. But it seemed like these women were very, very curious.

"We can't believe it. _Uchiha Madara_, you dumped that thing on Uchiha_ Madara._"

…

Now that they were mentioning it like that…she _was_ getting a little nervous. Understatement.

Loreli went pale.

"…He had me kneel with a bad ankle" monotone, the life gone out of her "why would I suffer alone…"

Snicker. "I _told_ you they're in love."

…

Loreli suspected she would die a young, misunderstood woman.

Then the Uchiha women all got up at the same time, startling her out of her reverie.

"My presence was requested."

They had great respect for this man, Loreli realized, judging by their humbled postures.

Uchiha Ingra, their mix-blood head medic. They cleared the space in the hall as to not cause him any distractions, leaving them alone. He must have quite the reputation.

"…I apologize for this," Loreli spoke, feeling a bit awkward.

He was dressed up, dark blue kimono which lit his light blue eyes, long smooth hair pulled back. It really did look like the entire clan was here.

The head medic came over to her chair. He knelt before her, his red eye activated into view as he examined her injury.

"This wasn't an accident," Loreli heard him note calmly.

Taken aback. Surprise.

…

"…You can tell?"

He did not reply. Reaching inside his sleeve, the medic drew out a scented handkerchief. Briskly, he folded it up a few more times before holding it up to her.

"Bite onto this," Ingra told her, soothing cool voice.

Pause, taking in the meaning of his words. Loreli accepted it.

"Since you do not wish to wait for it to heal naturally, try not to resist the pain."

That was what he said, but…

_Oh, god,_ the pain-!

She could feel every muscle underneath his hand stretch and relax, twisting and burning, righting into normal state. Her entire leg was on fire. He had to grip one leg of her chair with his free hand to prevent her from toppling it over.

It didn't last very long, but it seemed otherwise. Then the burning morphed into a chilling. Ingra was pouring a cooling sensation from his hand.

"Don't strain this foot for a while."

Out of breath, Loreli managed a shaky ghost of a 'thank you'.

He got up, a rustling of blue fabric.

"My congratulations to your brother."

"He will be pleased."

Every hair on the back of her neck rose at the sound of that voice.

Loreli turned in her seat. There he was. The devil in disguise.

She was aware that the medic, Ingra, left her to be alone with this man.

"…Izuna-_sama_." Hiss. Small, forced smile. She would not be taken into his game again.

…

Loreli was losing the battle of smiles. His was genuinely amused when he crouched down next to her chair.

"You don't think our new familiarity warrants for a change in address?"

Sweet smile, trying to mirror his as a mocking gesture.

"…Bastard."

Izuna's smile did not waver. "But, I was thinking; _brother-in-law_."

Slap. Half-hearted slap. But the message got across.

He frowned.

…

"…There was a mosquito."

Unhurriedly, Izuna reached a hand up to grasp her wrist, pulling it away from his cheek. Slowly, he straightened out her fingers. Both eyebrows went up. "You missed."

Blandly. "…Because I'm not a lying, cheating_ ninja_ who plays around with a simple girl's life just because he knows he can get away with it."

Grimace.

Izuna reached for her, and, seeing that she plastered back against the chair, decided to take the whole chair altogether.

"…I hate you," Loreli confessed.

"Hey." Pleasantly ignoring the stares they were endowed with as they passed by the clansmen. "Hate is a loaded word."

Loreli pursed her lips. Evidently nothing ever fazed this man.

"Don't be silly. You should have known from the moment you stepped inside this clan that you wouldn't be able to go back to a normal life."

Loreli glanced down at Izuna.

"You think that after becoming the mistress of the leader of the Uchiha clan, you can simply return to living peacefully in the outside?"

Izuna was speaking seriously. Uchiha Izuna never spoke seriously like that. Not to her, at least.

But what he was saying was true. She should have known this. _Why_ hadn't she thought of it before she agreed to everything? The shinobi world was _different _from the outside world.

"So you had me wed to the one who had nearly killed the man I adore?" Loreli asked tonelessly.

"Madara has made you the mistress of the clan," Izuna observed. "He cannot raise a hand against you in public."

In public.

"And now that your name is intricately tied to his…" Izuna set her down, rather abruptly, causing her a jolt of surprise. Eye level. "…You will not betray him."

…

"I-…what-?"

Did he just…_not_ answer her question in a roundabout way?

He took advantage of her momentary off-guardedness, prying her off her chair.

"Look, behind you."

Small frown, still disoriented, Loreli turned towards the direction he was pointing in.

Izuna took the opportunity to give a small push to her back, shutting the door firmly behind her.

* * *

…

Loreli didn't know which was more preposterous. The fact that he _thought_ it would work, or the fact that it actually did.

For a long moment her hands lingered on the door, her mind struggling to accept this.

…She had no doubt about whose private quarters Izuna had taken her to.

…

Dark, spacious, cold. Very dark. Someone hadn't bothered with the lights.

Her eyes took time to adjust.

Though the large room seemed to be connected to other chambers, this one appeared to be the main, the ceilings high, and a symbol of the Uchiha fan adorning one wall.

Slow quiet footsteps. Her heart palpitated.

Madara discarded the towel onto the surface of the table. He sank down, smooth motion, into the couch next to it.

Long leg propped up on the couch, arm draped across risen knee, and wearing nothing except a long bathrobe of the darkest red, made black by the dimness in the room. It looked like he had washed off what she had foolishly dumped on him earlier.

Loreli felt her insides quivering under his stare.

"Come here."

Like a blow, his words knocked the wind out of her lungs.

A long eyebrow went up. Dark lush voice, slowly, coolly. "You are my wife. I expect absolute obedience." Madara repeated sharply, "Come here!"

Rigidly at first, Loreli reluctantly approached where he sat, waiting.

Madara's arrogant eyes assessed her coolly, as she stood bravely before him.

It was quiet.

"Are you a virgin?"

Loreli almost faltered, glancing down at his impassive face, with the exception of a quirked brow.

Aha…

Now…? He was asking her that, _now? _After everything. After he even _gave her away _to some of his men. What kind of answer is he expecting?

"No," she lied, steadily locking eyes down at him. So what would he do if she wasn't untouched? If they took marriage as lightly as this, she wouldn't be surprised if an annulment was just as easy.

Madara's dark eyes slimmed ominously.

Loreli stifled a gasp as, with one fast fluid motion, he yanked the sash off her waist.

The long spike-haired shinobi leaned back casually, resting his head on the back of his propped-up hand.

"Undress," Madara ordered her smoothly.

…

He had seen her naked before. She had seen _him _naked before. Why were her fingers trembling so hard?

First her outer robe. Loreli let it drop. The inner kimono was harder. Her fingers went stiff.

No matter how she thought about it, she simply wasn't ready to accept this. Never would be.

"Remove your hands," Madara's cool command.

She blinked, registering his words. Hesitantly, Loreli allowed her hands to fall to her sides.

All she heard was the sharp rip of fabric. Cold air against her skin.

Uchiha Madara twirled the kunai in his hand once, before reaching to the side and used a light stab to embed the tip into the surface of the table.

He looked up, long eyebrows arched and dark lips slightly parted, daring her to protest.

…

She was stunned. With that one inhumanly fast swipe he had split the front of her kimono perfectly down the center, without scratching her skin. With skill like that, he could take her life in a mere instant and she would've never seen it coming.

Aha…

The light-headedness was back.

…

In the dark, Loreli couldn't read the veiled expression in his eyes. For the longest time Madara simply observed her, silently, her self-awareness increasing by the second.

She stepped back, involuntarily, as she felt the shinobi reach out and touched her side.

Needless to say, he was not pleased by her reaction. Madara's dark, sinister eyes bore into her coldly as he rose up from the couch. She faltered.

Suddenly, without warning, Loreli found herself flushed against him, her _entire body_. She resisted, but a hand was placed on the center of her back, entrapping her against his tall, powerful frame as his free hand tore the fabric from her shoulders, exposing her entirely.

Panic. She struggled unthinkingly, her breathing harsh and shallow against the hollow of his throat, inhaling more of his scent, feeling his long ebony locks brush her face. He was a man. She became increasingly aware of this. At this proximity he was not great shinobi or clan leader; only a painfully attractive man who was reacting to her vulnerability, her own body was instinctively responding to his heat.

One hand reached up, grabbing a fistful of her hair, holding her in place as he reached down and forcefully snapped her panties away.

He was strong. Oh, too strong. It was a struggle she had no chance of winning. His muscled arms, shoulders, chest were hard and unyielding beneath her fingers, his chest rising and falling against hers as his soft speeded breathing, underlined with need, fanned into her hair.

"No-"

Loreli swallowed thickly, throat gone dry.

This wasn't the same authoritarian Madara who would lash out or mock her for defying him.

He was serious. Uchiha Madara was serious this time. He would force her regardless of her resistance. She could feel it from the way his slow hands roamed over her curves, controlled, unrushed and deliberate.

He wanted her.

That was what frightened her the most.

"Stop-"

With one last, harsh jerk, Loreli tried pulling away from him. To her surprise, he let her fall.

His bed. She hadn't realized.

Heart beating out of control, Loreli glanced up in fear.

…

One dark eye obscured by the long bangs on one side of his face, Madara's gaze roved over her helpless figure, until she became unbearably self-conscious of her unclothed state.

…She could hardly believe it. Leader of a ninja clan or not, Uchiha Madara was still a man, who gave into base instincts. Yes that…that must be the reason for the dark, seductive smirk which appeared on his lips. No other reason.

"You've never been with a man."

Loreli pursed her lips at the confident tone.

Seconds ticked past.

A small surge of defiance allowed her to regain her voice.

"…Madara-sama, you think?"

"Heh." In response, the tall long-haired shinobi tugged off and discarded his long bathrobe to one side. His expression remained vaguely amused, perhaps waiting for a reaction.

…Did he truly not realize that he was not just any other man?

He was sharp, alluring, dark and statuesque, radiating raw charisma. Even his appearance was meant to be king.

This was the man who had threatened the lives of her most precious people.

This was the man who had taken her life from her.

Uchiha Madara wasn't just any other man.

Instinctively, she drew back.

Then she found him suddenly above her, lightly fisting her hair in his hand.

"Doesn't matter," Madara told her, dark velvet voice close to her ear. "I will be your last."

Loreli wasn't given time to agonize over his meaning. His knees were nudging hers apart.

Screaming internally, she tried to edge back. He pinned her arms down to her side, immobilizing her.

Shuddering breath. Loreli shut her eyes as the man leaned towards her, his warmth hovering above her, strands of his long hair tickling her throat.

This was it. He had her under his power. Her life was his to control. She had no means of escape.

Overwhelming dread.

…No. Not true. Not real-

A nudge, a prod, and then a probe. Madara slid himself halfway into her tight heat. It ached badly. Her walls were stretching rapidly in an effort to accommodate his wide girth.

Oh god. Loreli tried to relax. She couldn't. Her fists clenched at the sheets beneath her entrapped arms. But, if she had no choice, then she would not- she would not cower underneath him.

Madara found her barrier, she realized. That was why he had paused, breathing softly. Then with one hard thrust, the hands tightening around her arms, he sheathed himself fully within her.

Really bad. Loreli struggled against her restraints despite herself. A burning, tearing sensation. The pain itself as bad as it was hurting her psychologically. The scream, she could control. The tears, tears of distress and of humiliation, she couldn't.

At the quickened sound of her soft ragged breathing, Madara stared down at her for a silent moment, his sharp, handsome face unreadable.

He pulled out of her.

"Shhh…" Uchiha Madara hushed her, drawing her into his firm chest with an arm encircling her waist, her back nestled fully into his warmth.

If anything, she only got more discomforted by this. His hand absently stroking through her hair. She was speechless, bewildered, _terrified_ by his abrupt change in behavior, half expecting it to be his twisted way of giving her a false sense of security.

But Madara didn't do anything else. He drew the blanket over them, hushing her occasional sounds of protest, and held her against him until she at last fell asleep.

…Or perhaps it had been a faint.

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Um… I should warn you guys right now that it will get both darker and lighter than this. If the fic so far has been _already _too dark or confusing for you…heh heh heh…you haven't seen a plotline angst fic in action yet.

**Also an important heads up;** I'm a writer who likes dropping vague hints all over the place, and there are _certain things_ that I can't spell out for you even if you ask. Should that ever be the case, I'm afraid you might need to reread or simply follow the flow until it gets clarified by later chapters. Chances are, if you are confused, the main character is confused as well. There's really no _need_ to stay ahead of what the characters know, is there? It's simply a bonus if you can ^^


	10. Bloodrose Secunda

**A/N:** I wouldn't be able to pull off the soup-dumping either. Though…I wish I'd seen Madara's expression when she did that. Also Izuna's expression. A woman scorned is someone to be feared! And Madara AHAHA…I just love how he was messing with her – and then he got turned on? THESE TWO ARE TOO MUCH FUN XD;;

Yes, I can totally relate with the persecution thing. It shouldn't affect us writers, but bleh, fanfiction is pretty review-driven after all. Thanks for empathizing? Hahaha.

* * *

**Till You Die**

9 – _Bloodrose Secunda_

* * *

He was gone before she woke up the next morning. And, judging by the coolness of the sheets, he had been long gone.

…

For a long time Loreli sat at the edge of the bed, her mind drawing a white blank.

It seemed a long time since she had been taken away from her beloved home. Loreli counted and recounted inside her head. One week…was it?

Only one week…?

Yuzuzu-hime…Loreli wondered if her mistress had stopped crying yet.

…A warm, bittersweet, nostalgic feeling.

No…those were dangerous thoughts.

Drawing the blanket around her body, Loreli calmly went to the door. Was he planning to keep her in here?

Two guards.

"…I need clothes."

No speaking glances exchanged. No hesitation. One of them left.

…

"…Where is your leader?" Loreli asked the remaining guard.

"A missive arrived via falcon earlier," he replied nonchalantly. "He is with the councilors."

She looked at the Uchiha guard curiously. He didn't bother to return her gaze.

"You will really accept an outsider as the mistress of your clan?" Loreli asked tonelessly.

Same indifference, he wasted no time in answering to the space before him. "Betray the clan, and you're as good as dead. Your authority will only last so long as you still have Madara-sama's favor."

"…I see."

In other words…

…She wasn't going to get out of this alive.

…

Loreli rubbed her temples wearily with one hand.

The guard who had left earlier returned with an older woman by his side.

"There, there." Loreli felt herself being patted on the side of her shoulder. "Go back inside before you catch a chill like this."

She allowed herself to be propelled through the door.

"This should be your size, I would think." A bundle was pressed into her arms. "Go on, go wash up and change."

Loreli hesitated, watching as the older woman picked up the remnants of the ripped garments from the floor with a cluck of her tongue. Then the Uchiha woman approached the bed.

"…I will take care of that myself," said Loreli as the woman started bunching up the sheets. She had bled last night. The thought of having anyone else seeing it… It mortified her.

The older woman paused, looking over at her skeptically. Then she shook her head, but to Loreli's relief, she let go of the sheets.

A deliberate sigh. "When will that boy learn that relying on force won't win him everything?"

Loreli blinked.

"Look at this, look at this, all this dust!" the older woman exclaimed disapprovingly, having rubbed two fingers together after running them along the top of a nearby shelf. "What a horrid room to live in! If it weren't for his younger brother, I wouldn't be surprised if he died from a lung infection or something."

"…Izuna-sama indeed seems like a mother figure to him," Loreli remarked dryly.

The Uchiha woman chuckled. "You would think, right? In fact, it used to be reversed with those two. As a young boy, Izuna detested learning the art of war, so much that the trainers thought something was _wrong. _Madara repeatedly confronted their instructors for giving his younger brother a hard time. I remember there was not one day he didn't return from training all roughed up. In the end, they left regular training. The only person Izuna would fight is his older brother. And now, years later…" She shook her head. "Hard to imagine they're the same boys from before."

"…What happened to those trainers?" Loreli asked wryly.

Quizzical look.

"…Madara-sama didn't hold a grudge against them for beating him up in the early days?" Loreli asked half-heartedly.

"What are you saying?" Knowing smirk. "He's the one who defeated each of the instructors."

"…Oh."

…How long ago was this? No-…it wasn't like she was actually interested.

"Your husband" making Loreli flinch momentarily "had learned early on that it's not a matter of who's wrong or who's right in a warrior clan like the Uchiha. It's only a matter of who's strongest. Whoever commands the most power commands obedience. But, you seem like a brave girl. Perhaps he has met his match."

Ah… Loreli had a vague suspicious this was where it was all leading. It was like the women of the clan thought her to be some kind of heroine for daring to pour a bowl of hot soup over Uchiha Madara.

"…You are mistaken," said Loreli blandly. She wasn't brave… "I was…not in my right mind yesterday." She had been too distressed for her own good yesterday. "He would have killed me if it weren't for keeping up appearances."

The older woman clucked her tongue, propelling her towards the bathroom door. "I'm not going to try figuring out what's going on with you two. But let me tell you this; he could have avoided it if he wanted to. He didn't. To have done so would have immediately alienated you from the rest of his men. To us, it only seemed like he was issuing a warning to everyone of just how far your influence goes."

The door shut gently behind her. Loreli stood facing the unlit bathroom, motionless.

The bundle of cloth slipped from her hands, unnoticed, dropping to the cold tiled floor.

* * *

No cooperation.

They could force her if they had to, but to cooperate would mean that she'd accepted her new role.

On second thought…

"Give me that," said Loreli. She was going to spike Izuna's tea with chili.

That's right. She knew if she remained stubborn long enough, he would come find her.

None of the clansmen had gone against her thus far. She was amazed, appalled. Did they truly think she was going to lie low and calmly accept all this?

And what was with this- this robe? Despite what that Uchiha woman had excused about the size not fitting, Loreli couldn't help but suspect that it wasn't the size that was the problem. It was not modest. Not modest.

There was not one person who was on her side.

"Awfully spirited today, aren't we?"

Loreli spun around.

"Up here."

Izuna, above her, standing perpendicular to the pillar which was beside her, his long thin ponytail hanging down.

"…Why are you…?"

"You're not planning to spill anything on me, are you?" replied Izuna, good-naturedly.

She considered this. "…No…come down."

He did. A small, agile flip which landed him next to her.

Like his brother, Uchiha Izuna was one head taller than her. The same stature, the same build; a lithe but impressively toned frame. Yet there was an overall difference. Izuna was pleasant to look at, despite knowing how deceptive appearances could be. Unlike his brother, meeting eyes with Izuna would not evoke an urge to stare and to look away at the same time.

"A token of my appreciation," said Loreli, holding out the glass of warm beverage to him.

He winced. "Making gifts to me? Well, this is rare." Swirling the liquid in the glass, but knowing better than to drink it. Amused tone. "Is this a bribe?"

She responded with a small dry smile.

"…Actually…there's something I want to ask," Loreli told him. "Your brother, Madara" she watched his expression carefully "towards this marriage, was he willing or unwilling?"

…

Izuna hiked a thin eyebrow. "I'm guessing nothing happened last night?"

She didn't reply. He had a way of skirting around questions.

"Hn." Loreli did not avoid his arm, wrapping around her shoulders. "Don't be surprised," Izuna told her, "Madara…doesn't want any children."

"Doesn't want-" she started, and then cut herself off. Izuna was messing with her again, wasn't he? "Then why did he-…" she paused at the sight of his innocent smile. "_You._"

"Madara," Izuna explained to her unhurriedly, "thinks that having children would mean taking time away from his duty on the battlefield." Wry smile. "But…I know my brother's ambition. He can't seem to accept that it's not something anyone can accomplish within the course of a lifetime."

She understood. He wanted someone to give Madara heirs who would inherit his ambition. Loreli felt sick. "What kind of twisted ambition…?"

"Hn?" Izuna suggested, "That, why don't you ask him that for yourself?"

She slipped out from under his arm. She wasn't interested in getting pushed into his brother's arms again. "You…picked the wrong person," Loreli informed him calmly. "I may be trapped, but you are mistaken if you believe I will eventually give in to persuasions or intimidations."

She closed her eyes briefly before continuing. "I will never accept that role. Wife to a heartless, manipulative, arrogant," she went on.

Izuna listened with a pleasant smile. "Behind you."

Loreli frowned slightly. Did he expect her to fall for that a second time?

Nonetheless, she glanced back. "-vengeful, and-…"

Madara.

…

She watched, frozen, as the tall, dark-haired shinobi slowly bent forward to her eye level. One long eyebrow rose slightly as his impassive obsidian black eyes pierced her. A soft, foreboding voice, prodding, "…And…?"

Lips numb, Loreli murmured monotonously, "…And an insensitive jerk who expects me to say good things behind his back after almost having me killed four times…"

Izuna, laughing. She wasn't aware. All that was occupying her attention was how close and how sinister Uchiha Madara looked at that moment.

Those dark eyes, cold and hard like black diamonds. Dark lips set in a thin, harsh line. He-…could it be that he had heard everything?

A dragged out pause. Suspense.

"Mistress of the most powerful clan in the land of fire," Madara mused smoothly, arrogant brow rising in mock inquiry. "…Not good enough?"

In truth, she didn't want to say any more, she only wanted to get away. But nodding her head would mean that she conceded.

"…I…didn't ask for it…Madara-sama."

"What she means is she doesn't appreciate the trivial duties imposed on her," Izuna interrupted. "Here, I believe this was for you," he added, handing the glass of tea she gave him to Madara.

Her heart did a plunge.

"Wait…" Both hands on his strong black-clad arm. Madara's arm. It didn't matter that she was contradicting everything she'd just said about not giving in to intimidation.

…Uchiha Madara's mood at the present…

…was_ dangerous. _

"…I'll get you another one…"

His eyes on her back. Intense. Loreli felt a cold sweat swept over her as she retreated.

Murderous aura.

Izuna watched as Madara shattered the glass of liquid against the pillar. He spoke.

"You need to win her over before we leave," commented Izuna. "She is confused, trying to be brave, innocent but not naïve enough to believe that she'd find an ally in this place. _I _have fallen out of her favor. If anyone chooses to show her kindness at this stage…" Izuna paused in thought "…she may become easily susceptible to their influence."

Irritably. "Then have it known that no one is to show her any kindness!" snapped Madara, loud voice echoing off the walls as he turned away in dismissal.

Izuna kneaded his forehead in exasperation.

* * *

So, she still ended up doing this…

Loreli was amazed at her own lack of willpower.

No…he had caught her off-guard …that was all. Having to confront without any warning the man who-…last night- She-…She would be prepared this time.

"…This…is it alright if I leave it here?"

She had set the tray on the table. She didn't look up or even bother waiting for a reply.

Faster than she could blink, Izuna was next to her, one arm lashing out to shut the double doors close before she could escape. The_ clang_ actually resounded inside the meeting room.

…

…Immediately she knew nothing good was going to come out of this.

"You don't need to run off, this concerns you as well."

Slowly, Loreli turned around. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, being the center of attention of a group of men who could have her dead without rising from their seats.

"…What is it?" she asked blankly.

With an arm around her shoulders, Izuna drew her away from the exit. "This is abrupt, but…we, the men, are setting out tomorrow."

She was silent as he moved away.

"You must be mad, right? Your husband's going away to war immediately after your wedding. Hn…" deceptively innocent smile "I have an idea."

Loreli watched warily as Izuna approached a seated Madara at the end of the long oval table. What was he playing at?

"Why don't you ask him for something in compensation?" suggested Izuna.

Silence.

Standing next to the clan leader in question, Uchiha Izuna encouraged her in amusement, "Go ahead. Ask him anything."

Her mouth dry, Loreli couldn't shake off the feeling of being cornered.

Uchiha Madara, facing her at the opposite end of the room, his councilors on either side of the long oval table, watching her. Just watching her. Was he not going to comment on this?

"…Anything?"

Slowly, she met Madara's dark, veiled gaze. He had propped his head up against the back of one hand, tips of his long, ebony spiked hair brushing the surface of the table. A look of boredom, if nothing else. Yet it was suffocating.

…

Izuna was mistaken if he thought that she would give in to the pressure. Loreli leaned forward in a bow.

"…I ask that Madara-sama relinquish his claims on my person and to send me home."

…Izuna let out a small laugh. "Told you she'd be mad."

A sharp and scathing command.

"_Leave us."_

…

It was not an order spoken in a tone anyone wanted to argue with. Izuna was massaging his temples while he cleared the room with the others.

The door shut behind them, leaving them in silence.

Loreli straightened from her bow when she heard his chair scrape back.

"You've gotten quite bold."

The observant voice came from behind her.

She felt herself stiffen, listening to his slow footsteps as he paced around to face her.

He leaned in. She held her breath, eyes fixated on a spot ahead of her.

"Look at me," Madara told her softly, tilting up her chin. His dark eyes mocking, long thin eyebrow arched in pretense, he told her, "_I don't mind_."

Coldness crept up the back of her arms, to her shoulders, settling high up into the back of her neck.

His low, smooth question to her, so close to her that Loreli was afraid to blink, "But are you prepared to pay the price?"

Inhaling sharply, she found herself pressed against the edge of the oval table, her wrists pinned down to either side.

Slowly, Madara lowered himself to her eye level. Feeling him pressing even closer, it took Loreli all her willpower not to arch back, away from the proximity of his dark parted lips.

…He wouldn't… In here…?

But the long-haired shinobi paused in whatever he had planned. For a long moment, his half-lidded eyes bore into hers.

Silence. Remaining in that position.

Lightly, Madara remarked, "I don't like those eyes."

He watched as she blinked once, a hint of a question forming in her deep brown depths.

Women who wanted him for his power, women who cowered before his power, he had seen many in his life. It _disgusted_ him. Yet…

Again, he reached two fingers beneath her chin, even though she wasn't looking away. Pondering darkly.

Her eyes. She neither desired him nor cowered before him, and all the power he could offer did not persuade her into obedience.

Yet this was what infuriated him more than all the others. Ah, this woman, he thought, dark eyes slimming ominously…only this woman, he would not tolerate such indifference from her.

…

"…Madara-sama…I was born like this," she said.

"Heh."

Hands on her waist, he abruptly lifted her into his arms.

Panic was written over her delicate features as she looked up.

"Even if only on the surface," Madara said silkily down at her. _"I am going to tame you."_

It was the second time he had carried her. This time she didn't bother with struggling, although, like the other time, she looked like she was withholding a scream.

Heh. It didn't matter if she screamed. His men could pause to stare all they wanted. She was his _wife._

He released her once they were inside his room. She stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Your resolve," Madara commented, pouring himself a glass of wine. He sank back into the chair next to the bed, long legs crossed, before completing his mocking statement, "It's impressive."

She was nervous; a fine, nearly unperceivable trembling along her arms. Madara drank from the glass, lazy half-lidded eyes watching her over the rim.

She was but a simple girl, not a single ninja skill to speak of, and she refused to give in to_ him_ – Uchiha Madara.

"I'll give you a chance to make things easier on yourself," Madara told her in dark amusement. Leaning back into his seat, he returned the guarded look she gave him with a cruel smirk. "Touch me, of your own accord."

She flinched visibly at his taunting suggestion.

Leisurely, he rested the side of his head into his hand, elbow propped up on the back of his chair.

"Your answer?" asked Madara, knowingly.

She hesitated in giving a response.

Predictable, her reaction was.

"…Madara-sama," her characteristically light and patient voice, "you ask too much of me."

He set his glass down on the table next to him. Without getting up, Madara reached over to the side. A sharp, ripping sound as he tore a long narrow strip away from the bed-sheets, barehanded.

Looking back up to see her stunned expression, Madara leaned back again into his seat, holding out one hand to her.

She was not a clueless girl. He could see that she was able to figure out what he meant.

Madara quirked an eyebrow, still waiting.

Long black lashes flickering in fear, she stepped back from him.

He got up.

Faster than she could retreat another step, he was before her. She made sweet, gasping sounds as he lashed her wrists together.

She resisted, but he easily flung her onto the bed, securing the other end of the binding to a bedpost.

Calmly, Madara went back to the table and finished the remainder of the wine in his glass, deliberately dragging it out for her.

She was looking up at the binds which tied her hands. She knew she couldn't free herself of them without help, biting her lip at the knowledge.

He circled the bed before coming around to her side, slow gaze trailing over her.

"Spread your legs," Madara ordered.

She stared up at him, motionless, aghast.

"Or we can do this the hard way," Madara told her, bending over to speak closer, "I can tie down your legs."

Her face rigid in an effort to keep her emotionless mask in place, she seemed to agonize over this.

Finally, her eyes shut and she parted her legs.

"Wider."

He saw her jaw clench, but she obeyed.

"If you're just going to close your eyes," Madara suggested smoothly, "why don't I just blindfold you?"

She stiffened visibly. A short moment's pause. Then she reopened her eyes.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Madara remarked wryly. "I don't want to see that look."

…

Before a snide retort fell from her parted lips, he was above her, a fisted arm against the headboard above her head supporting his weight.

"Ah." Arrogant face hovering inches above hers, Madara's dark lips smirked down at her. "That mood," he warned her, long taunting eyebrows twitching up, "It's _dangerous."_

Whatever remained of her protest silenced when she felt his other hand loosen her robe. Her breathing came quickly.

It didn't take much to get it out of the way; she was dressed lightly; though he made it torturously slow. Her legs squeezing against his, an instinctive action to protect herself. She didn't know how erotic that was.

Exposed to his silent scrutiny.

It wasn't only her face; her entire body was soft and supple, radiant. Her neck was slender, skin pure, her shoulders refined, with perfectly shaped breasts, a small waist and long shapely legs. The sheer amount of feminine allure she exuded was enough to shake the resolve of any man.

Madara felt his own breath starting to lengthen despite himself.

It didn't matter how many men had been tempted by her in the past. She was his. And he would keep her.

He shifted position. She resisted when he slid her panties away from her legs, but he allowed that to pass. Prying her legs apart, Madara traced lazy circles on her inner thigh with his thumb, eyes on her face.

She tried to slide up, away from him. He yanked her back.

Her eyelids fluttered rapidly a few times, as if blinking back tears.

Madara straightened. He pulled off his black, high-necked shirt over his head, long hair tumbling back down into place. Then the remainder of his clothing, and she looked away.

He turned her head back, long strong fingers grasping her jaw line. "Shhh…" Madara leaned in, an elbow next to her head bracing himself above her. "Behave yourself," Madara told her smoothly, wryly, "and you'll see that I am capable of being a gentle lover."

Dark smirk forming on his lips at the sight of her unappreciative eyes, Madara brushed strands of her hair away from her throat, asking her tauntingly, "Would you like that?"

"No."

"Heh." He lowered himself, drawing his hand down her smooth throat, across her rapidly rising chest, over the supple mound of her breast. "You don't know what you're saying," Madara commented silkily, tweaking the peak none too gently. Dark promise. "I'll forgive you this once."

Before she could reply, he had reached down and had found the nub between her spread legs. She jerked back. Immediately his arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her in place.

Slowly, Madara teased her sweet flesh with skilled fingers until the most sensitive spot on her body grew hard, her entire body taut, straining against her bonds.

She was determined not to make a sound, he observed. It was unlikely she knew that her squirming underneath him and her shuddering breath had the same effect. He arched her up, lowering his lips to one breast, teasing her with his warm breath rushing over her sensitive skin.

It was good enough. Her peaks were hard and risen, matching the height of his own arousal. He lowered her gently back into the sheets.

"You'll be watching me," Madara commanded, gripping her chin lightly, making her face him again.

He spread her legs further, without waiting for a reply. If it weren't for his own unsatiated need, he thought darkly, he would have dragged this part out for her.

She squeezed against him as he entered her, as if trying to reject him. She was tight, tense, though not as unyielding as she had been last night. He pulled back, only to thrust in a little deeper each time just as her walls had started to accommodate to him.

She wanted to edge away. Madara placed both hands on her hips, keeping her still. He started a slow pace, savoring the feel of her underneath him, the feel of ownership.

…Oh, traitorous. Her body was traitorous.

The pain had faded, that was true, but it still shouldn't have felt remotely pleasurable. If he had allowed her to close her eyes. If he hadn't been an undeniably and fatally attractive male.

Loreli had averted her gaze many times, but each time he would pinch the tip of one breast sharply in reminder.

It wasn't the pain she was trying to avoid by keeping her eyes on him. It was the knowledge that her body was _responding _to him every time he did that. It was already hard enough attempting to stop her body from arching into him.

The sound of him sliding inside her, slow and deliberate, making sure he filled every space within her each time. The sound of his soft grunts as she fixated on the sinews inside his neck, with strands of his long ebony-black hair plastering against his skin from the sweat.

Even so, this man…doing such things – things no man had ever done to her…no…how could her body react this way?

He saw her troubled expression.

"Give in to me," Madara breathed, low and seductive.

Loreli gritted her teeth.

Uchiha Madara grasped her hair, dark eyes possessive as he leaned in and told her firmly, eyebrows rising in challenge, "You are _mine."_

She shook her head lightly.

"Ah-!"

He had given her a hard thrust, taking her by surprise.

Mockingly. "You like that?" Madara asked with a knowing smirk.

Hands on her waist, he quickened his pace, his rhythm deep and insistent.

Her breathing became ragged. She didn't want to give him a reaction he wanted to see.

Pain, intermingling with the pleasure which had been building up. It was neither pain nor pleasure. It was both. An intense, an unbearably intense sensation winding itself at her core where his heat reached her repeatedly.

A quiet whimper. Hers.

When- when will he stop?

She felt his arm snake behind her waist, using it to hold her against him as he buried himself deeper inside her. His other hand reached down to flick her nub. His long hair slid back and forth along her skin. And the feeling. The inexplicable feeling building up inside her.

It was too much. She couldn't endure it. She wanted him to stop. She _needed_ him to stop before bitter tears at her helplessness leaked out.

"I- I am yours," Loreli choked out brokenly, voice rising to match his force, "I am yours! _My god_, I am yours!" _Stop._ Her voice caught.

The spasm gripped her without warning, violent and mercilessly. Loreli gasped sharply, feeling her folds convulse tightly around him as he gave in to his own pleasure, panting above her.

She was still catching her breath, stunned at her own body's response, when Madara pulled away. He laid facing her on the bed, next to her. A masterpiece, a sculpture of flesh and blood, thin trickles of sweat glistening on his skin.

Loreli stared, speechless, at his smug expression, his head propped up on one hand. What was there left for her to say? Why the expectant look?

Finally regaining her voice, she asked him as steadily as she could make it "…Madara-sama…may I be untied?"

The corner of his dark flushed lips quirked up further. Madara lifted himself slightly and brought himself closer. Speaking low and smooth directly next to her ear, he promised her, _"It's not over yet."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**Yes! I finally got to a lemon! My first! And it was…unexpectedly difficult…for this Madara =.= no…don't look at me like that…

Aw…I think Madara's having/going to have a hard time with this romance thing…XD Dammit, I love this happy couple. Izuna's probably thinking he should just give up on them.

Have a fun and safe holiday~


	11. Vengeance of the Thorns

**A/N:** Remember how I said this was to be a dark angsty fic no amount of light could touch? Hmm…I've decided to take a different approach to it. A slightly different dark fic from the others of its kind. You're going to love and hate me for this.

* * *

**Till You Die**

10 –_Vengeance of the Thorns_

* * *

"Lady." Apparently that was how they preferred to address her. "You are cold. Put on this cape."

"Thank you," Loreli replied to the young woman at her side, "I am fine."

It was a bit chilly, but that wasn't the reason why she was rubbing her arms inside her sleeves.

…Rope burn.

She gritted her teeth. The muscles in her jaw ached tiredly from clenching so much.

Yet, despite suspecting that her body might protest getting up this early by leaving circles under her eyes, Loreli had wanted to see this.

The rest of the clan was seeing their warriors off to battle. No, not all their warriors. A good portion of them – equally armed and uniformed in black – remained stationary at the sidelines while the higher-ups were rounding up the men.

"That's a lot of them left behind," observed Loreli.

"Not for a stronghold of this size," she was replied with. "Look."

The young woman beside her pointed out several prominent figures standing at attention on the sidelines.

"Uchiha Murata, second in ninjutsu only to Izuna, he's staying behind this time. Uchiha Shindara, the best summoner in the clan and the one in charge of defense. There's Uchi-"

"Even the head medic?" Loreli asked calmly, with a blink.

"Oh, you know of him? Uchiha Ingra." An ironic grin. "Unless there are unusual circumstances, the medics would always stay behind. It's something to do with warriors' honor or something – only those who survive on the battlefield are fit to live. But don't ask me how that works."

…

"So, I hear you and the leader met on his visit to the feudal lord who paid for this war," the woman noted conversationally when Loreli didn't say anything else.

"How did it happen?" the young woman wanted to know, voice low and eyes mirthful. "Did he just notice you? How did he propose?"

…

…By twisting her ankle, if she recalled correctly. Loreli glanced down at her feet, checking her healed injury.

Evidently, the other woman thought it was a gesture of embarrassment.

"What, you are shy? Then, is it true he fell for you at first sight?"

"…Sorry," Loreli interrupted, "can we…"

The other woman looked up and saw what was causing her discomfort.

Uchiha Madara, their shinobi leader, while surrounded by his councilors had noticed her among the gathering. Fully armed and regal in his dark glory, Madara's unreadable eyes returned her gaze. He signaled for Izuna to take over.

The people around her cleared away when their leader approached her.

"Morning." That mocking countenance and tone he always used on her. Folding his arms and leaning in, Madara asked her smugly, "Slept well?"

Loreli…hadn't wanted to go near him. The sole reason why she hadn't hidden away from this was because she suspected doing that would only make their next encounter more difficult when he had her cornered.

Though as soon as tall, powerful frame shadowed her, however, she was starting to regret.

"A farewell kiss?" Madara taunted, quirked brow, when she made no response.

"…No."

"Perhaps you've forgotten whose war we're siding in," Madara reminded her.

…She glanced to the side. Really…he was putting her on the spot right before all these people. No room to back out of it either.

Hesitantly, Loreli reached for the cascade of his long spiked hair in front. She raised it to her lips. Tonelessly, "…I bid you victory, Madara-sama."

She met his eyes, veiled and expressionless. Her heart skipped.

It wasn't good enough for him.

Warm lips claimed hers, and, because she didn't respond, she felt him growl – a vibration in his throat – as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, his kiss deep and punishing, strong arms forbidding her from drawing away.

Ah…this man simply won't allow her any room for freedom.

"Madara!" Izuna's voice.

The long-haired shinobi released his arms around her. He glanced back to Izuna, who was signaling to him that it was time.

"The stronghold is yours," Loreli heard Madara's smooth voice comment as she blinked away the stinging at the corners of her eyes. His thumb brushed her lips. Whispering mockingly, "I expect it to still be intact when I return, _mistress of the clan."_

…

* * *

The first day she had the two guards assigned outside the room throw out the bed, telling them politely but firmly that if they expected her to behave herself, she never wanted to see it again.

By the end of first week, she had swept, dusted, and polished everything in his room. Twice. Only because she was getting bored and fourteen years of servant instincts started taking over, and not that she gave a care if their leader died of lung infection.

The second week, one of the women managed to persuade her to leave the room. They wanted her to join them in the kitchen outside, and it didn't matter if she'd rather not help out. Sadly, just watching them at their chores got her going stir-crazy. In the end she excused herself.

Life went on for the clansmen within the Uchiha stronghold. It seemed they were more or less used to having the shadow of war hanging over their heads. As Loreli wandered around, she felt it was the most freedom she'd experienced since she'd arrived.

In a field she came across clansmen in white, both male and female, foraging among the bushes. She recognized the one standing, giving out instructions, as the assistant medic who nearly always stayed by the head medic's side.

He noticed her no later than she noticed him.

"Lady," approaching her respectfully, "you have a request?"

"…No."

He followed the direction of her gaze.

"Ingra-san has instructed the medics to gather medicinal herbs in preparation."

"…There are female medics?" Loreli wanted to know.

"We use the term 'medics', but the only one who can constitute as a medic outside these walls is Uchiha Ingra, our head medic. The rest of us are more medicine and surgery-based, we don't manipulate chakra the same way he can."

She watched the medics for a while longer.

"Ingra-san is…?"

The assistant looked over at her when she spoke. "If you're looking for the head medic, follow this path to the right. You'll know the building when you see it. Ah-"

Loreli glanced back at his interruption.

"It's just…" he looked a bit sheepish "…if this is about before; Ingra-san was not aware of the status of your relationship with Madara-sama, I ask forgiveness for his bluntness on his behalf." He leaned forward in an apologetic bow. "I will accept any retribution in his stead."

Loreli was surprised. That was the kind of impression they had of her? Not that she could complain; she _did _depict stubbornness on several occasions…and had even dumped soup on their leader during their wedding banquet. Aside from Madara's councilors who were with him on his trip to the castle, and the young Uchiha men whom he had thrown her to, no one else knew the real picture.

"Don't worry," she assured him, "I have no such intention."

She didn't know whether he believed her or not. The assistant bowed his head in acknowledgement and she left.

…

Loreli went past it twice. She was still trying to decide if this prison-looking place, partway between one guardhouse and the next, was what she needed to find when she caught sight of two guards up on one tower snickering at her obvious reluctance.

…

Well…they didn't stop her when she pushed the heavy metal doors open and let herself through. The doors closed by themselves behind her.

The strong smell of warmth and spring hit her. Soon it was forgotten, as Loreli was awed by the sight.

"The genealogy of every member of the clan, the biology of the Sharingan, the components of the Uchiha bloodline, everything is here. Which is why, should any invaders intrude, it would be best they cannot escape."

Uchiha Ingra rolled up the scroll in his hand, returning it into its rightful slot on the high-stretching scroll library. "My lady," coolly, the head medic turned to face her, "is there something you need?"

"I-" Her elbow knocked down a handbook from the shelf behind her. She hadn't noticed she had backed up that much while staring up at the ceiling.

Rolling up her long sleeve, Loreli reached and picked it up. "I apologize…I don't know from which space this fell from."

It took her a moment to realize that his eyes weren't staring at the book she held out to him. He was looking at her wrist.

Her heart skipped a beat.

It…it couldn't be… The rope burns which had adorned her wrists had faded quite nicely over the past week and a half. Shouldn't be able to tell.

If the head medic noticed anything, he made no comment.

"This is fine. I needed a look at this." His long dense lashes curtained his eyes as he looked down, flipping through the pages.

Loreli watched as the tall regal medic went to another shelf with silent steps, continuing his work with serenity as if her presence didn't matter to him.

"Ingra-san, are you…" she glanced at the sheer amount of knowledge which must be present in the room "…self taught?" Loreli smiled wryly. "Were you forced to become a medic?"

Uchiha Ingra replied coolly without glancing at her, "I chose this path." He was pacing lightly, comparing the text between two open books.

"My brother was a true warrior," he continued nonchalantly, still reading, "but no matter how great his achievements or how much he cared about the clan, with eyes like these, he could never become accepted as leader." There was a pause, Ingra added, "Legitimately."

Loreli was silent, pondering his words.

"…Teach me to be a medic."

This time the head medic glanced back. His apathetic gaze assessed her.

Ingra closed the book in his hand.

"My lady," his cool, disinterested voice questioned her, "what is the real favor you want to ask of me?"

…

Loreli gave him a small mirthless smile.

"…Can you help me?"

* * *

At the end of the third week their warriors returned from battle.

Loreli had naturally hidden herself away from it all. She knew any one of them could probably find her easily, but she…wanted more time to think.

A shadow shot overhead, crashing into the branches of the tree she was sheltered below.

Mishura, spreading and refolding her wings menacingly. She let out a shrill shriek.

…Ah…he'd found her.

…

Slowly, Loreli rose up.

His wife had skipped greeting him at the gates. Madara would be furious.

"Welcome back…Madara-sama."

She didn't straighten from her bow until she was sure he was beside her. Even then, she didn't turn to look.

His tall, dark presence was foreboding. Arms crossed, as she saw from the corner of her eyes, he demanded coolly, "The reason for your absence?"

Loreli raised her eyes, facing him.

…Just like how she remembered him. Uchiha Madara wasn't someone whose image could be easily forgotten.

Bruises, red marks, ripped cloth and dried blood marred his sharp, unrelenting frame. But instead of making the powerful shinobi any less ravishing…the traces of war rather made him look fully in his element. Bloodthirsty, red-rimmed eyes raked her soul, impatiently waiting for a reply.

Briefly, Loreli closed her eyes. It seemed the Uchiha clan's leader had sought her out straight away.

"…I only wanted to be alone for a bit. Is that too much to ask?"

She saw his red-rimmed eyes narrowing in displeasure. Leaning in with arms folded and long bangs falling over one eye, Madara's visible eyebrow rose as he bit out mockingly, _"Denied."_

...Loreli pursed her lips, silent.

"Ah. My bad." Madara's cruel, taunting response. "You're upset?"

"Madara-sama had not rested in weeks. I shall temporarily reside in a separate room," Loreli informed him helpfully. She was an outsider to their clan. She didn't think he would make the mistake of entrusting her with his life in his sleep.

"Doesn't matter," he replied curtly. "Your_ precious_ princess is safe," Madara said snidely, voice lightening to another taunt, "How are you going to thank me?"

_Pain._

…Fourteen years…fourteen years she'd been with the princess. _He_ was the one who had taken her away in the first place, and speaking every word, knowing they were poison to her ears. Cruel, this man is…

How was she going to _thank _him?

Loreli steeled her resolve.

…There would be no turning back after this.

He had made it easy for her by leaning over to her the same way he always did while speaking to her. Loreli grasped hold of his hair, on tiptoes, pressing a harsh kiss to his dark lips. An urgent kiss.

As abruptly as she did that, she pulled away. "Madara-sama, you taste of blood."

Pleasantly, she added, "Please don't touch me while in such a state."

He was about to respond. She forestalled it by giving him a sweet peck, again on the lips. _"Please."_

Heart hammering inside her chest, Loreli waited a breathless moment to see if he would change his mind. Then she turned and ran.

* * *

The first day, he saw that she had gotten rid of the bed. But despite the appearances he put up, Madara was tired and decided to deal with it later.

The second day she had painted the Uchiha symbol on the wall into a flower. He discovered this when he returned from a briefing to retrieve something from his room.

As Madara stared at the wall, arms folded, he realized she might just be more cunning than he had thought.

There was no way he'd allow anyone to live to see that the great _Uchiha Madara_ had failed in getting his wife to respect him.

…He found her with the women, working alongside them in a light atmosphere. For a long time Madara watched the scene with his arms folded, ignoring those who passed by in greeting. While his earlier rage simmered down as the time passed, it was replaced by something utterly perverse. He wanted to go out there and forcefully drag her away from their midst.

She was happy.

A side of her she had never shown him. A change which perhaps occurred ever since he left for battle. A feeling of contentment only brought about by his inexistence.

Long fingers gripped his sleeve at the elbow.

_Unacceptable._

It was the woman beside her who had notified her of his presence. The smile melted from her eyes and she stood, putting on a pleasant but guarded expression.

"Madara-sama." Approaching him calmly, she inquired, "…You are seeking me?"

Harshly. "What happened to your hair?"

"…I cut it," she replied, her long-lashed eyes peering innocently up at him. "I felt awkward that my husband has longer hair than me."

Madara's dark eyes narrowed, pacing a circle around her. "So you cut it even shorter?" he snapped maliciously. Unbelievable. It was her declaration of _war._

"…I was not aware I needed Madara-sama's permission to alter my appearance," she said.

Heh. If that's how she liked it, he would play her game.

"You are my wife," Madara said silkily in reminder, lowering himself to her height.

She watched him with a veiled expression.

"Madara-sama…" she took locks of his long ebony hair into her hands, pulling and telling him lightly _"…we've already established that."_

As the numerous Uchiha women watched curiously from behind, she raised his hair to her lips before gently lowering it back into place.

"Your wife needs to return to her chores," she said softly. "Madara-sama, can this wait?"

She didn't wait long for a reply. Smiling semi-sweetly, she fluttered away.

* * *

Uchiha Madara was never a tolerant man who could sit still and accept being ridiculed. By the time she had served him his least favorite dishes – informing him that she had inquired around for his taste preference – it was obvious to him that she was wittingly testing his patience.

Ah. Reaching for and snapping her neck would be so easy.

She'd be grievously mistaken if she thought he couldn't do it.

His murderous red gaze followed her as she flit around the hall, helping the other women. The way some of his men took notice of her did not escape him. She was positively radiant when lively, different from the small, suffering female she was when she had first arrived.

'Displeasure' did not quite sum up what their leader Madara was experiencing at the moment.

"Madara." Izuna frowned without looking up from toying around with his plate. He had received a head injury during one battle, now bandaged, and it resulted in having not much of an appetite. "Your Sharingan. It's ruining the mood."

Before any snide retort was made, that_ scandalous_ female halted next to the Uchiha clan's second-in-command. She leaned over and pecked Izuna prettily on his cheek. "Congratulations on your victory."

_SLAM._

Not so much the loudness, but the intent behind it. Uchiha Madara had shot up from his seat, the action so fast and vengeful that Izuna actually started getting up on reflex.

…

"Ah, Madara-sama, forgive me," she said, approaching him carefully and seemingly oblivious to all the attention centered on her. "…If that isn't to your taste, I will prepare something else for you right away."

His red-rimmed eyes never leaving her face, Madara yanked her down into his lap, facing him, hard eyes scrutinizing _his _woman.

Telltale signs of weakness. There were many.

After an intense, suspenseful moment Madara smirked at this knowledge and leaned back lazily, challenging her, "I may find it acceptable, if you feed it to me."

Her façade was impressive. There was only the briefest of hesitations before she reached to the table. "Madara-sama knows of my clumsiness in such matters, but if you insist…"

He caught her wrist before she could spill the contents on him, his red eyes darkening. Slowly, he drew the bowl out of her hand, placing it back on the table.

Thumb drawing lazy circles in the palm of her hand, Madara spoke softly and sinisterly, "Tell me what you're up to."

A short pause.

Gifting him with the third surprise since his return, she leaned into him sweetly and whispered into his ear, "Madara-sama…I will have you regret making me your wife and mistress of the clan."

Her scent was light and feminine, triggering memories of her, helpless and submissive underneath him. Violent urges under control, Madara wondered wryly if she had any idea what risks she was taking by pressing herself against him.

She didn't pull away. Neither did Madara force her to. A lesser man wouldn't have been able to remain calm and stoic as he told her coolly, "I won't permit it."

"I won't listen," she replied calmly, not missing a beat.

Time froze. She felt his muscles tense.

_Snap. _

She had flinched at sound, sharpness amplified tenfold by the malignant atmosphere.

Heart drumming in her ears, Loreli glanced to the floor next to her, where Izuna's chopsticks have landed, still spinning.

"That was me," Izuna admitted. "You mind?"

…

Shakily, Loreli gathered her bearings and rose up, not daring to meet the eyes of the man before her.

She wordlessly reached down and picked up the pair of chopsticks, her fingers numb and cheeks cold.

"Not taking advantage of me, are you?" Izuna asked in amusement when she neared him.

She blinked down at his eyes. Red eyes.

Izuna reached forward and steadied her when she swayed on her feet. "My lady is tired," he said, signaling for assistance from the women. "Have her retire for the night."

No protest from her. She had no defense against the Sharingan.

Izuna watched her get taken away, idly tracing his middle finger along the rim of his cup, meditatively.

…Brave as she was, there was still no way she could've gotten this bold without the right kind of encouragement. It was a change not even he could have brought about.

Someone…already held a high position of trust in her heart.

"Madara, there is probably nothing scarier than a woman scorned," Izuna observed, conversationally. A crack split down the length of his cup. He glanced at it with a small frown.

…

"Hn. Very well, _since you asked_," Izuna responded with a bit of uncharacteristic smugness, "I will show you the way to her heart."

* * *

**…**

**A/N:** Will he succeed? Will she fail? Will the plot receive an advancement next chapter? Will there be character development? Will there be more Madara abuse? Is there ever going to be mutual romance at this rate?

…

Loreli…snapped…


	12. War of the Petals I

**A/N:** I just want to make clear that Loreli hadn't undergone some sort of magical transformation, nor had she become fearless altogether; this is simply a dormant part of her that had always existed (in fact, we've already seen sneak peeks of this side of her after their 'wedding'), and Madara had managed to bring it out.

Suspicions about the medic Ingra, the love potion, etc… I won't be answering at this point, but feel free to speculate. I'm not _that _predictable a writer though ^^

* * *

**Till You Die**

11 – _War of the Petals I_

* * *

Red eyes snapped up from scanning the page.

"_What._ the hell is this?" Madara spat out ominously, slapping it back into Izuna's shoulder.

"This, my dear brother," replied Izuna smilingly, "is a _sheet of paper_." Slapping it back at him. "Memorize it."

"I won't have it," Madara bit out, warningly. The close proximity meant to be intimidating.

"I won't allow that," Izuna responded calmly.

Stillness. The malice was almost audible, a sinister cackling of dark energy.

Abruptly, Madara tore up the_ ridiculous_ item in question, making his point.

Izuna noted it had been a good idea to have made a copy.

"Madara." Keeping pace with his elder brother as they went through the open-sky corridors, Izuna warned him, "A woman out for blood will do _anything._ Let's not forget that her actions as your wife will reflect on you."

Madara spun around violently, facing him.

Voice light in a dark promise; "Then I shall crush what remains of her defiance," Madara informed him with blood-chilling cruelty. "She will _learn_ how to _respect _me." The latter part had been articulated spitefully.

Izuna's eyebrows rose, following Madara from behind as they began to move again.

"You, the sly and manipulative tactician, losing your levelheadedness to a woman at her game. She affects you that much?"

Still-raging fury and growing irritation aside, the way Uchiha Madara's shoulders went taut at his implication was not missed by Izuna.

"Then again, I suppose this isn't the first time you've ever lost your cool over a woman." Pause for effect. "Remember that time you were twelve and your first 'crush' rejected you because you were too rowdy, too egoistic, your eyes too intense and your hair even longer than hers, oh- and you sent her brother to the hospital that previous day for telling you to keep away from his sister? Well," wry grin, "I bet she's regretting her decision, now."

…Little had his brother Madara known that the reason why she had told him off was because she had been _serious _about him. She had wanted to see if he cared about her enough to change his attitude towards her.

Needless to say, Madara thought it a nuisance and never cared for taking an interest in the opposite sex after that. Which was why, this peculiar weakness Madara had shown towards the girl – Loreli, was it? Izuna wasn't planning on letting her win her way.

Madara had half-turned, gazing back at him at first with a look in askance which then turned into mild annoyance.

So, he had even forgotten about that incident, huh?

"_And?" _Madara questioned for his point in bringing that up, irritably.

"And I will spread this tale to the men if you insist on being stubborn in this matter," Izuna told him warm-heartedly. "You don't think it'll help lessen the frigidity between you and the rest of the clan?"

…

"…A joke," Izuna finally said.

* * *

Ten things you need to memorize for today:

1. Women desire the man who's the strongest (Given that strength's not used _against _her),

2. The handsomest (But, apparently, it hurts if she's eclipsed by him),

3. And a man who's not afraid to show gentleness towards her (Touch, but don't break).

4. Women are weak towards children (Not saying you should become one).

5. Women are comfortable around men who maintain good relationships with their kin (I will pay you back for that blow earlier).

Something which read along the lines '6. get a sense of humor' before it was crossed out.

6. Women need a man to whom she can confide her past, dreams, and fears (Though, I'd skip the 'dislikes' part).

7. Women appreciate men who know to give them personal space ('Personal space' not meaning the one that's ten feet cubed and stationary).

8. Women are weak to men who have a lot to offer her ('98 ways to get crushed for disobedience' do not constitute as good gift offerings, Madara).

9. Women like an agreeable man (Just reply 'yes' to _any_ and _every_thing she says).

10. If none of that had been helpful at all, just remember to _not_ be yourself whenever you're with her – No, even one day is probably good enough.

It wasn't signed. Izuna probably knew that it'd be signing his own death sentence if he were to do that.

Madara's red eyes narrowed into slits.

What was the _meaning of sticking this onto his back? _

If anyone had seen _him_ – Uchiha Madara – having been caught unaware like this. Izuna was going to _die._

Laughter.

Madara glanced up, absently folding up the sheet of paper as he frowningly tried to decipher the scene laid out before him.

One Uchiha guard – a fine shinobi he had picked out – who he had assigned the duty of his wife's safety within the center complex, standing among the women working inside the open-air kitchen area.

The mistress of the clan was having him dice her ingredients for her, his knife rising and falling in blinding rapid succession on the board.

"My lady," the Uchiha guard was saying, indifferently, "there's a reason why the men don't do this. Small, repetitive movements at high speed will cause tendonitis to the arm."

"Ah," her short, pleasant response. Nothing else.

Briskly, he finished up, stepping aside for her, straight and at attention. "Anything else, my lady?"

"Fire, please."

Several feminine squeaks went up as the shinobi complied.

"Thanks," the mistress told him between coughs, gesturing with her hand that she was done with him.

The Uchiha guard gave a curt nod and excused himself. He kept an impassive face on, until he went to the side where another guard was watching, clearly amused.

"What is this?" he hissed to the other guard. "I am an elite shinobi. Every day she gets me to do this. Is the leader making fun of me!"

"I thought you looked like you were enjoying yourself," the other man joked.

Before the first guard could snap a retort, both shinobi picked up the sound of an approaching presence.

"Madara-sama." They received him with straight faces, shoulders pulled back and posture alert.

…Their leader strode past from the front, silent and deliberate. Uchiha Madara's red gaze rested on the delicate female outside, blissfully oblivious to his scrutiny. Then he turned to glance back at the first guard.

"You have something to tell me?" Madara asked coolly, quirking a long thin eyebrow interrogatingly.

"A complaint, perhaps?" Madara continued, voice low and lightly provocative. He paced back, watching the countenance of his two men, crimson gaze steady. A slight twitch of his head, long hair rippling; inquisitive. "Regarding my decision of making this woman, clan mistress?"

"No, Madara-sama."

He waited, allowing his expectant silence to do the prompting.

"It has been a long time since the clan last had someone claim that position. The women are pleased to have her, Madara-sama. She seems to have been a head servant, of sorts, before she came here. It's been a lot livelier around here ever since she had won them over."

Madara came to a stop, arms crossed as he observed the woman in question amidst her crowd.

Her hair was only slightly past her collarbone after she had cut it, pulled back from the sides of her face to keep out of her way as she worked. She was dressed simply, perhaps intentionally so. Madara did not recall and would not have permitted her wardrobe to be that plain and unbefitting for a woman who was known as his_ wife._

Yet the effect was mesmerizing whenever she turned to answer someone with a lovely smile.

Curtly. "You two may leave."

Madara listened to their retreat, waiting for a while longer. He then made his way to the outskirts of the gathering.

"Tell your mistress, I'll have a moment of her time," Madara said to the young Uchiha woman who had noticed him first. She wasted no time in carrying out his request.

"_My lady…"_

At the beckon, the mistress of the Uchiha clan got up, inquisitive eyes meeting his. She started to put down the plate she had been scrubbing with a cloth, until the other woman presumably told her that he only wanted a moment.

Rolling up the sleeve which was sliding loose, the woman he requested for came towards him.

"Morning, Madara-sama," she greeted conversationally, curious demeanor. "You called?"

That smile.

An assumed smile which would have made Izuna proud.

Abruptly. "Here."

She caught the small flat container he tossed – none too lightly – in her hand. Giving him a curious look, she placed the box on the surface of the plate she was still holding onto, and drew open the top.

A sapphire necklace, elegant but sturdily crafted.

One corner of her lips twitched up briefly, before she looked back at him with a knowing smile.

"Tell Izuna, 'thanks'."

Scrunching of paper. "Ah," was the only response Madara gave her, the crumpled sheet of paper dropping out from under his folded arms as he spun away briskly.

"Madara-sama, littering is-…"

He was stepping on it before her fingers reached.

…

…Slowly, she looked up, questioning eyes meeting his arrogant gaze.

Then she raised her plate and _smashed it_ – there was no way it _hadn't _been deliberate – down, shattering it into pieces on the floor.

"Ah, how careless of me."

Madara had reacted in time, of course. That didn't mean he wasn't stunned by her bold gesture.

He recovered fast, snatching her wrist as she reached and picked up what she _knew _he didn't want her to see.

"You-!" snarled Madara, roughly yanking her up by the wrist. But she hadn't let go. In fact, even as he had her arm she was reading the crumpled sheet of paper in her hand.

Her expression, silent and blank. Then she raised her eyes to meet his.

"…Madara-sama," a coy smile, feigned, "if you had wanted to spend some time with your wife, you should have just said so."

She raised a delicate eyebrow slightly, questioning his refusal to let go of her wrist.

The other women were watching, albeit they wouldn't be able to hear what was exchanged. Madara's red eyes narrowed down at her. Was that the source of her confidence?

"You…" Drawing her closer lightly by her arm, Madara leaned over and asked her with his mocking soft voice, "You don't think your actions will be suspicious to the others?"

"…I'm afraid I know not what you mean by that, Madara-sama," she replied curiously. "…After all, am I not your wife, who is upset that her husband left for war right after their wedding?"

The tall shinobi warrior stared down at her with his incredulous red eyes, at her disarmingly innocent expression.

Impossible. This woman.

Was it possible that he had _severely _underestimated this woman?

…Flapping the sheet of paper between two fingers, at the same time reminding him to release her wrist, she asked him, darkly sweet voice, _"…You will make it up to me, yes?"_

* * *

Not once. Twice.

Twice in the same day _he _– _Uchiha Madara_ – had been coerced into something he had no desire of doing.

Scowling darkly, Madara rubbed the back of his hand.

He had tightened his hold on her wrist threateningly.

She had bitten him.

Until he had released her.

The bitch was going to _die._

"Madara-sama," her light voice, "how do I look?"

His head snapped in the direction of her voice. She spun around for him.

She was wearing blue, a beautiful dark blue outer kimono, richly patterned, to match the sapphire around her neck. Unfortunately, Uchiha Madara was not in an appreciative mood.

"Doesn't. suit you," he bit out scathingly.

She made no comment, and neither did her mask slip.

Stepped on him when she went past.

Immediately she found her back slammed against the wall, his hand around her neck. The pulse underneath his fingers erratic.

Long eyebrows arching mockingly, Madara asked in taunt, "You're not afraid of me?"

"…Certainly," she replied seriously. "Whoever is Madara-sama's wife must have a lot of courage."

"And respect," she added. Not so seriously.

Before he could respond, she had turned the knob, the door opening behind her.

"Itoh!" she called to one of the women in the sewing room. "Would you mind? Madara-sama's room right now."

"Itoh is a mute," she told him, turning back. A look of confusion. "Madara-sama…you were saying?"

They were blocking the doorway. The women were watching.

And earlier, as well. It was like she had an escape route plotted out for her. Madara's red eyes narrowed. Maybe the women were in on this.

He would not allow her to win this game.

"_Today," _Madara told her snidely, "I will show you around. _Outside."_ Emphasis on the last word.

She took his arm, a sinister smile which he had never before seen on her face.

'_I will have you regret making me your wife and mistress of the clan,' _she had promised to him last night.

"Madara-sama," she was saying to him, "it's about time, you think?"

* * *

It was like having a second Izuna.

Except weaker. And more absurd.

Definitely absurd.

Such as when she told him that she wanted to see the stronghold from up on the fortress walls. Right after they were outside.

"_What?"_ Uchiha Madara had replied with, incredulous red glare.

"I see people patrolling up there. You can take me, right?" she was asking. "I thought a _strong_ shinobi could scale walls, even that high."

He snarled, soundlessly. Did she think he'd be so easily led by her foolish antics?

"…I guess not." She sounded a tad disappointed. "Perhaps, another time, I'll get Izun-"

Deep brown eyes glanced up at him in startlement as she felt his strong arms encircle her body.

Mocking eyebrows quirking up, Madara spoke down at her snidely. "Just don't regret it."

No sooner did those words leave his mouth, he moved. No opportunity for her to change her mind, if she was to.

Speed. Past the rooftops. Tree branches. Guard houses. Straight up.

With his kind of exceptional chakra and endurance, the effort required was paltry.

The wind blew. Cold this early in the morning. This high up.

Madara whipped the hairclip – which flew out of her hair when it came undone and stuck into his – out of his long mane. He held in front of her, irritably. "You can _let go_ now."

It took a long moment before she seemed to register what was happening. A stunned expression, realizing that she was clinging onto him. He smirked to himself when she pulled back abruptly, a crack in her façade.

"…Oh!" Hair blowing loose in the wind, she exclaimed at the sight laid out before her. She glanced down.

"…_Oh."_ Somehow a different meaning.

Drawing her arms around herself, she inclined towards him, remembered who she was with, and settled for keeping as far as possible away from the spiked edges.

Counting the seconds before she'd start whining for him to let her down, the tall, long-haired shinobi decided to have her suffer what she brought about on herself.

Folding his arms, Madara breathed a frosty breath into the air, turning his attention away from the finally speechless woman beside him.

A few patrolling Uchiha shinobi on the wall, red gazes inspecting their way to check if something was wrong. He gave them a dismissive twitch of his head.

"_Well?" _Madara inquired tauntingly, turning to look at her from the side.

She didn't reply. Her body was trembling.

Heh. If she had wanted to play brave, she should have at least chosen something which she wouldn't give off her terror.

Madara paced, letting her get absorbed into her own silence.

Everything could be viewed from here. He had chosen a particularly good spot. When he glanced down, his clansmen at the surface were mere dots, going about their post-war reparations.

Pacing back, Madara tossed a glance to the other side, outside of these walls.

This place…the land of fire…

The winters too cold. The summers too dry. The earth rough and barren. Flanked on all sides with rival clans. It was impossible to maintain livelihood without constant provisions from accepting offers of war.

Madara stopped pacing, facing the outside, impassive.

His youth. His life. His power. He was going to gamble it all.

…To the east, the land of forest…where it is more temperate than here.

"Madara-sama," she interrupted. "I-…" He suspected it was the fear of height which did the trick. "I want to be let down."

Her masked had slipped.

"Ah." Arms crossed, Madara went to her. "Not yet." Smoothly, he leaned over her, strands of hair from his long bangs blowing into her face. "You agree to cease this ridiculous act of yours?"

She stared at him. Inner turmoil. Then she blinked.

"…Madara-sama. You have family? Besides your brother."

Incredulous red eyes narrowed threateningly. What was she playing at?

"Parents?" she asked.

"_Dead."_

"…I have no parents either," she replied calmly, after a pause. "…Well, unless that man who caused my mother's demise can be considered my father."

Her eyes were blank. Remembering. A still painting, unblinking. A sad but pretty color.

Madara was silent and motionless as he watched her.

"Give me his name and last known location," Madara finally said.

She came out of her reverie. Dry smile.

"…What I'm saying is, Madara-sama…" she told him "…Yuzuzu-hime, whom I've been with since I was six, is dear to me as Izuna-sama is dear to you. They are my family."

The way she didn't use past tense for that last line was clear to him.

"Madara-sama." Brave smile, monotonously, "You threatened my closest people, stole me away from my home, made me your unwilling bride, forced yourself on me, and refuse to treat me like a human being. Did you think any self-respecting woman would play doll and continue to endure all this?"

She jerked back before he even started reaching for her.

"Madara-sama," semi-sweetly, her façade back into place even as she shivered from the chill, "please take me back down."

A pause. The switch had been abrupt.

Madara folded his arms. Mockingly, "Get down on your own."

She shrugged. "Okay."

He saw her take a step towards the edge and turned on her heel.

She-

His reaction had been immediate, reaching a rough landing with her wrapped in his arms.

Grabbing her shoulders roughly, Madara snarled down at her, "You are insane!"

Her dark eyes were staring up at him, unreadable.

Holding her, still holding her, Uchiha Madara was at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

Then she smiled. A melancholy she couldn't hide.

"I got a bit dizzy. Madara-sama, may I take a rest?"

* * *

She had been wandering aimlessly for a while.

Madara followed her. Not because he had time to waste freely like this, but because he had finally acknowledged that she was liable to do _anything_ at this stage.

He would have someone else substitute the task for him, as soon as he came across one.

…She had entered the training grounds. No longer wandering, but seemingly heading for a destination.

Madara frowned, watching from behind. What could she be planning in here?

"Morning."

"Morning, my lady," the older man greeted back. He knew her. The two shared an amicable air between them.

"Today, they're lively as well," Madara heard her comment.

As if on cue, a little boy ran up to the two. "Morning, Loreli-san." He did a smart salute and went back to doing his drills.

The rest of the young training ninjas, mainly boys but also a few girls, came up to her whenever they took notice. She knew them, that was obvious to Madara. They knew her by name.

"Seen enough? Madara-sama."

Halt.

Slowly, Madara turned back with red eyes narrowed.

…She couldn't have sensed him.

Not even the instructor accompanying her side had sensed Uchiha Madara's presence when he hid it.

She had _known _he would follow her.

All of a sudden they all flooded before him, forming a semi-circle. "Madara-sama, congratulations on your victory," they chorused, bowing in respect.

…

"What do you mean by this?" Madara snapped, scowling at her over their heads.

"I promised your little admirers," she replied calmly, "that Madara-sama would oversee their progress at training today."

Arms folded, Uchiha Madara held her eyes impassively. So she thought the same scheme would work on him each time? Mocking eyebrows. "I think you want Izuna," he told her snidely, turning to leave.

"…I'm amazed," her voice drawled. "Madara-sama…is actually quite an awkward man."

Dark glare. He looked back.

But she wasn't talking to him. To the young ninjas at her side.

"It's not that Madara-sama doesn't want to," that _scandalous_ woman was reassuring them. "Madara-sama grew up without any parents, only a brother around his age. He can't help it that he feels extremely awkward and shy around women and children."

Suddenly she found him grabbing her by the front of her robe, lifting her closer to his murderous red glare as Madara snarled, "Will it_ kill_ _you_ to not speak?"

…She raised a delicate eyebrow ever so slightly.

He noted that the boys and girls were staring with varying degrees of surprise. He had just proven true to half of what she had just told them.

…

At long last, Madara let go of her. He turned to the cluster of watching children.

"Heh. Very well," Madara said smoothly. He raised a hand, beckoning in challenge. "_All of you_. Come at me."

…

…Loreli thought she had never seen children being so happy over getting thrown around.

* * *

Dark, unbridled, malicious chakra.

Izuna frowned over in the direction of a raging Madara passing through the training area he was supervising. Oh goodness.

"Madara!"

His brother's murderous red glare snapped over to him.

Jogging up to Madara, "What's with this development?" Izuna asked with a hiked brow.

"Apparently," curtly, "_she is mad_," Madara said with a snide twitch of his head.

…

Wait, it took him _this_ long to figure that one out?

"Well, I mean," keeping up with his stride, Izuna elaborated with crossed arms, "what's with_ your_ pissed off look?"

"She wanted me to train with the children!" Madara's sharp retort.

Izuna sighed inwardly. Predictable, his brother's temper was.

"Didn't I tell you to just agree to everything she says?" Izuna inquired as a reminder.

"Apparently, she got mad that I was hurting the brats during training!" Madara finally snapped.

…

…Izuna kneaded his forehead. Oh, she was winning. These two.

Small grin. They really were…exciting.

"Well, since I'm the one who had you married, naturally," draping an arm around Madara's shoulder, Izuna promised him, "I will help you."

Madara glared back with a dark scowl. Izuna forestalled it.

"But, if you fail to earn her trust by the end of this day. _I will not forgive you."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** LOL, GO MADARA! FANCLUB!

My thanks to emo, who inspired me with some of these incredulous ideas -heart-.


	13. War of the Petals II

**A/N:** Loreli's character – I found out only 2 chapters before this – is actually quite complex. But I'm afraid you'd have to sit still for another few chapters before finding out what her actual intentions are, and what's prompting her recent startling actions and behavior. In exchange for the absence of long flashbacks and chapters dedicated to the OCs' backgrounds, you get this…mass confusion and suspense!

* * *

**Till You Die**

12 – _War of the Petals II_

* * *

High noon.

Someone had helped her fix her hair after she had it cut so impulsively, and she stood out as one of the few women in the clan who did not wear their hair long.

She'd darkened her lashes with soot, giving them the illusion of being longer than they usually were. Her lips were dyed red by crushed flower petals, making them appear to be pouting regardless if she were doing it or not. A pink tint to her cheeks and at the upper corners of her eyes, eyebrows lightly lined.

War paint, sometimes it's called.

The blue stone hang from its crafted chain around her neck. Her flamboyant robe exposed her skin to the shoulders, allowing focus of attention on the sapphire jewel she flaunted unabashedly.

Surprisingly, that was all it took for the immediate difference.

Izuna only took one blink at her startling switchover to know that

she.

meant.

_blood._

Scratching out what he had in mind before he came to find her, Izuna opted to wait to see what she could possibly be up to.

Absentmindedly, she passed by him without sparing him a glance. Then she swiveled around to face him.

"Izuna-sama." Swirling around gracefully in her steps, robes dancing, she asked, "Am I not beautiful? The…prettiest."

Izuna folded his arms, amused. "Is that something a typical heroine would say?"

She raised a finger to her red lips.

"A gamble? Izuna-sama."

He quirked a brow, watching curiously as she beckoned him closer.

Izuna stopped walking. He let her come up to him.

Still, she motioned for him to move closer, as if wanting to share a secret. With a slightly incredulous expression, he leaned down slightly.

…Her lips sealed against his, though that was as far as she went.

Izuna almost couldn't believe it. She _actually did it._ Nothing ever went according to plan when it came to women, huh?

She lowered from her tip-toes, red lips curling into a gentle smile. "That is my first move."

* * *

She was sharp, daring, and so far had managed to back up all of her recent antics with her clever wiles, but she had made one fatal mistake. She had assumed that his elder brother, Madara, was any ordinary man and was bound to react as one.

Izuna sighed helplessly, fiddling with the bandage encircling his head. Then again, any ordinary man would have already realized his own state of mind by then – an enlightenment which still eluded Madara.

Still…

Thoughtfully, Izuna watched as the young woman known as clan mistress entered the hall.

He'll take her up on that gamble.

"What do you think you're doing?" Uchiha Madara had demanded softly, maliciously, to his delicate wife when she approached them. His reaction had been as immediate as it was tangible. A visible tensing of his sharp features.

…These two were simply too much.

She, slightly disoriented, stared down at Madara's black-clad seated figure, and then glanced cautiously at a very clearly amused Izuna beside him.

Izuna only smiled back. He hadn't told Madara anything. No, he wasn't particularly interested in partaking in Madara's wrath for not having prevented what he could've easily prevented from happening. Not yet, anyway.

Not sure what to make of this, she came around to Uchiha Madara's side, to where she was meant to be seated. "…I apologize for being tardy, Madara-sama."

A hand yanked her to his eye level by her elbow. Abruptly.

She was surprised by the unexpected action, speechless.

Long eyebrows rising arrogantly, Madara told her snidely, "I don't like it. _Get if off_."

Bewildered stare.

…

"Hn." Izuna's laughing voice interrupted. "So petty and insecure."

They both looked to him sharply, though for different reasons.

Izuna caught her eye, and, almost knowingly, sneaked her a wink.

"Ah…" in enlightenment. She avoided Izuna's gaze, and was silent for a moment before she spoke.

"Madara-sama."

She was about to speak further, but Madara cast her captive arm aside, causing her to steady herself.

"You didn't hear me?" Uchiha Madara asked her lightly when she didn't make move to leave, with his customary arrogance.

For a moment longer the delicate female stared back at him, mulling over her options. She smiled gently.

"You will control even the way I dress?"

At that point she had to reach to tug up a side of her robe, which was sliding a little too low off her shoulder.

…The action, if nothing else, seemed to have aggravated Madara further. Why, he looked as though he would actually get up to strike her.

And she actually started to step back, before she caught herself.

…A second's hesitation. If Izuna didn't appreciate her before, he sure did after this.

"Madara-sama…" she suggested sweetly, leaning closer to the Uchiha clan's leader "…why don't you allow me more freedom?"

…She realized his dark frown was directed lower. Izuna shielded his mouth with the back of one hand, to seal a laugh. She was fighting an urge to right herself, as she seemed to have forgotten that her present attire was a bit too easily revealing.

Oh goodness. Clearly she wasn't used to this.

Perhaps he should give her a hand.

"Surely you won't refuse a request from your cute wife?" Izuna drawled in bold inquiry.

Glossing over Madara's reaction, he directed his attention to her. "If you want to ask a favor," Izuna suggested, leaning back again and folding his arms, "you can always…give him a _kiss _and say 'please'."

Her lips had tightened together, tense. She was right to be wary of him.

Madara was about to say something to him – a snide retort, no doubt. Then he did a double take.

Coldly, "Since when did a respectable shinobi wear rouge on their lips?"

"Oh, that," Izuna answered with a laugh, rising up. "Almost forgot."

Three things happened at once. The girl stumbled back in shock. Someone else in the hall dropped a plate. And Madara was _absolutely scandalized._

"_You-"_ Uchiha Madara snarled, bolting up, with Izuna pulling away as quickly as he had pressed his lips to his brother's.

Izuna dodged a furious blow, locking arms with the livid shinobi before telling him with genuine amusement, "And she also told me to pass on to you; 'I missed you while you were gone, Madara-sama.'"

Her jaw had dropped in disbelief.

…

Before she had a chance to recover, Madara had broken free from their stalemate and had turned to her, calmly, grasping her below the shoulder and yanking her to his tall frame. "…I see." Long ebony hair rippling as he gave a mocking twitch of his head. "Been feeling a little lonely, have we?" Madara asked her softly, sarcastic.

Izuna knew Madara didn't believe the lie he told, but it had the right effect anyway.

…

It was obvious that she did not anticipate this turn of events. Her hesitation would cost her.

Leaning over to speak next to her ear, Uchiha Madara told her smoothly, ominously, _"It's time we have a little talk."_

* * *

…That was pathetic.

She knew their brothers' relationship was really good. She knew Madara wouldn't be so blind as to not be able to see who the culprit was. But for Izuna to be able to relay _all _of the rage on her…

Was it not possible to take Uchiha Izuna out of the equation, after all?

Loreli tried not to wince at the crushing grip on her arm.

At least…this reaction was the one she had been expecting. She was tempted to smile, except it wasn't really funny.

Uchiha Madara didn't take her far. He stopped at the first room which he came across, swung open the door and tossed her in.

Loreli lost balance from the force, stumbling back into a low shelf and causing sharp objects to slide with her to the cold stone floor.

And it just happened to be a weapon storage, stone pillars lining either side of the long interior, racks and shelves against each wall. Or perhaps it had been intentional.

Her heart betrayed her confidence, skipping erratically as he shut the door behind him.

She wanted to get up. She didn't want to show a weakness. But her limbs remained as heavy as lead as she watched the tall, long-haired shinobi came before her with slow, deliberate steps.

His hair, ebony-black, veiled one of his blood-red and slanting eye from view, framing his arrogant face. From the sharp ends of his long, slashing eyebrows, to the taut line of his dark lips, down to the set of his jaw which narrowed down to his angular chin, Uchiha Madara was _furious._

As furious as the first time she spilled a cup of hot tea on him. He was by far the most lethal thing inside this room.

Loreli felt her shoulders gave an involuntary twitch at the sound of his cold, quiet voice.

"You have ten seconds to explain yourself to me."

It was a heavy, sinking feeling. It was worse than all the other times, even. Had his voice always been that cruel?

Uchiha Madara was watching down at her, his arms folded, dark and intimidating like the personification of death itself. Waiting.

She could deny him an answer.

She could, if not for the intense bubbling of hysteria welling up inside her.

"It was to defy you, Madara-sama." Surprised at the smoothness of her own voice.

Long, cool fingers grasped her jaw. The tall shinobi had leaned in close, shadowing her, cornering her, and she had not even registered that until then. His head was tilted to one side, almost musingly, and his visible eye burned a sinister crimson. Softly, Madara asked her, "Care to repeat that?"

She had rehearsed this, hadn't she? She'd have thought that she would be used to such intimidations by then.

But no.

At least, the years of mastering how to keep up a respectable expression in unpleasant situations helped her, even if her breathing had lengthened – lengthened and quickened.

"Madara-sama…"

Watching him keenly, Loreli edged back to her feet, using the low shelf behind her as support. He didn't prevent her, although that slimming of his red-rimmed eyes looked increasingly threatening.

She licked her dry lips, momentarily distracted by the passing footsteps outside the door.

This would've been much easier if they weren't alone by themselves. That Izuna. She'd have to improvise.

"I haven't forgotten the promise you bound me to before you left," Loreli said carefully.

The black-clad man rose up, leisurely, folding his long arms. Stringing her words together at this point required much effort.

"Carrying out my duties as promised," Loreli asked, "putting up a respectable front before the others, as promised. Not mentioning my desire to leave here, as promised. Is it…" managing a curious expression "…still not enough?"

A dark pause. The long ebony-haired leader of the Uchiha clan leaned in, arching one long thin eyebrow, mockingly.

"_My dear," _Madara told her lightly, slowly shaking his head to add emphasis _"I do not take well _to such displays of defiance."

"Ah," Madara intercepted her path as she moved towards the door, asking down at her with his long arms still folded, "where do you think you're going?"

Loreli couldn't help but glance back at the empty space he had been in the moment before. This inhuman speed of his never ceased to unnerve her.

Slowly, she looked back to the tall shinobi before her.

"…There is nothing to discuss, _Madara-sama_."

A fleeting darkness crossed over his sharp features.

"I've agreed, haven't I?" Loreli reminded him gently, knowing that her patronizing tone would probably feed to his silent rage. "I can and will live, act, and breathe as your 'perfect wife'." 'Before the others', Loreli didn't need to add.

A smile, as she tried to skirt around him. "As long as that's all that Madara-sama asks."

This time she was jerked back roughly by the arm, vision swimming before it refocused on the man before her.

Silence.

Then, quietly, "There's a limit to how much of your impertinence I can take before it ceases to be intriguing," Madara informed her, unbearably close.

As if she didn't already know his threshold for defiance was intolerably low. He was taking all of this quite well, she'd think. Was it something Izuna had said?

Madara had let go abruptly and was circling her, slowly, as if trying to discern something for himself. Trying to find her signs of weakness, perhaps.

"Tell me what is it that you want."

Loreli blinked once. She shot a sidelong glance at the cold, arrogant expression of the shinobi coming back around to face her.

"What will it take to pacify you?" Madara wanted to know, quirking one inquisitive eyebrow.

"…Pacify me…" she repeated, disbelieving.

He made it sound like-

It was only then – by the sight of his expectant eyes half veiled by his long black bangs – that Loreli realized that she had said that aloud.

Miraculously regaining her voice, she spoke. "Ah, excuse me, Madara-sama. My…-reaction-…is quite normal, for someone who had been abducted, thrown around, and treated like a mere possession."

"By a man who thinks a grudge can be resolved by force," she added pleasantly.

Once again he blocked her way.

Loreli didn't look up, didn't blink.

It was an ugly feeling. An intense, ugly feeling. She wanted to get way before it burst forth.

But this_ cruel_ man won't let her leave.

He leaned forward, so that he was at her eye-level. Madara spoke, long hair rustling with his head movement, in a quiet half-whisper. "Which is why I'm asking you, now."

"If you still want to play haughty," the shinobi suggested, arching arrogant eyebrows, _"cling onto my generosity."_

…

Generosity?

…

Cool fingers brushed her throat. He brought himself closer, next to her ear. Madara asked her silkily, every bit as dangerous as when he openly expressed his rage, "Tell me what the _hell is it that you want?_"

Lightheadedness. Which was more incredulous? The fact that Uchiha Madara thought that a compromise was possible, or the fact that he was even asking for one? Or was it far more incredulous for her to be unwilling to back down on this one?

…Because to do so would mean that she'd forgiven him.

…

It didn't matter if he would take action against her. She would…_feed off his rage._

"Madara-sama." Loreli steeled her resolve, crossing her arms lightly in an uncharacteristic haughty gesture. "I want to be treated with the respect you owe to me as your wife. I want to feel that my life isn't endangered each time you direct that dark scowl on me. I want the freedom to decide for myself where my own person and my personal space are concerned." Pause. "I want Madara-sama to treat me as an equal, if I am the mistress of the clan."

"_What?"_ Uchiha Madara's reaction was as expected. Dauntingly malicious aura, dark and furious, exuded from his every pore. Her demand had been preposterous, a challenge to his rank and to his superiority as a ninja, and she knew there could be no way he would accept such conditions.

Loreli shrugged, almost in relief, having gotten that absurd question of his over with. "I thought not."

She turned to the side, but much to her exasperation, he was in her way _again._

Just as she thought she was about to say something she'd probably regret, he spoke.

"_Done."_

…

Loreli was just a tad too drained to feel the shock. She peered up at him, guardedly.

Madara's cool, arrogant expression met down at hers. Mockingly, he asked, "Is that all?"

"No," Loreli replied, so quick that it must've been a reflex.

Her heart pounded heavily against her ribcage as his red eyes darkened. What was she going to say after that? What- what did _he_ think he was doing?

"I-…I want an apology, Madara-sama," cringing inwardly at this despite herself, "else I will not forgive you." Her voice was no longer even, not quite convincing to her own ears. "You think I won't be taking this seriously?"

He had straightened up, head slanting to one side as he watched her, his arms folded and posture restless. Loreli saw his tongue dart out to lick a corner of his dark lips. "An apology," Madara mused aloud. No doubt that it was something that the leader of the Uchiha clan was unaccustomed to doing.

A dark, velvety chuckle.

It was like all the blood in her veins froze. She stilled.

He had never done that before.

The tall shinobi paced before her. "And what will you have me do?" Madara asked lightly.

…

Since he _asked._

"Why don't you let me tie you up like you did me, Madara-sama?" Loreli suggested sweetly. "I'll even spare you from a verbal apology."

He stopped short in his steps. Abruptly lowering himself to her eye-level.

"You must be _joking me,"_ Madara snarled.

"…Madara-sama," Loreli wanted to know, "are we done with our little talk yet?"

He snapped up, expressionless eyes fixated on her calculatingly as he absently stepped to the side. Slowly, Madara strolled with his arms crossed, casting his red gaze over the shelves lined up against the wall.

The center of her palms felt clammy, cold. She tried not to think at all.

Loreli gave an involuntary start when his arm shot out to his side.

Uchiha Madara turned back to her, rolling up the lengthy cord of rope in his hands. He stopped before her, leaning down and arching long arrogant eyebrows, mockingly. "Shall I help you with the rope?"

…

…She wished she fainted.

As it were, she was feeling numb to the core. Yet she remained haplessly conscious.

"I can tie ropes, Madara-sama," she managed as a murmur.

She meant to snatch the rope from him, but her grip was weak from shock. No, 'shock' did not quite do it justice.

Slowly, Loreli knelt, one hand holding onto her other wrist. That was pathetic.

"Ah," his smooth arrogant voice interrupted, tauntingly, "you said something?"

She glanced up, to see that Uchiha Madara was extending his arms out to her in jest.

"…Madara-sama," she said, taking up the cord which she had dropped, "you think I won't?"

His red-rimmed eyes narrowed ominously at her. Understandable, given that she was winding the rope around his wrists as tight as it would go, and undoubtedly would've caused discomfort.

She was out of breath by the time she finished, unaware that she'd been holding it in the entire time. All she could focus on was the anticipation she had of him lashing out at any second.

"Well?" Loreli inquired bravely, her voice coming out half-strangled.

Cold red eyes surveyed down at her handiwork. Uchiha Madara gazed back up at her with a quirked brow. "Acceptable."

She pursed her lips.

Of course he didn't need to take this seriously. There were countless ways for a shinobi to free himself, especially while being surrounded on all sides with sharp instruments that could cut him loose within a matter of seconds.

Loreli decided it'd be fitting to have him secured to one of the pillars. That is, if he'd let her.

"Come with me," she requested hesitantly, tugging lightly on the long ends of the rope still hanging loose.

Madara slanted his head lightly to one side, letting out a low chuckle.

As with before, it froze her.

"You think I will so readily buy into this act?"

His heavy-lidded eyes watched her lazily. He licked a corner of his dark, cruel lips. "But it doesn't matter," the tall shinobi informed her, stepping forward with slow, deliberate steps so that she was forced to back up. Right until her shoulders came up against the pillar.

Loreli felt her innards trembling as he laid his bound wrists over her head, so that she felt fairly caged in between his elbows on either side of her, towering above her with his height.

Uchiha Madara said quietly down at her with a slight quirk of his arrogant eyebrows, "I will hold you to your word."

…

…This was the worst.

The sense of panic she was experiencing had no description.

"Not until-…not until I admit forgiveness, Madara-sama," she whispered.

…

"Heh." A darkly amused smirk curled the corners of his lips. Mockingly, he told her with a snide twitch of his head, "As you wish."

Swallowing thickly, Loreli grabbed hold of the ropes, slipping out from under his arms.

She lost track of how many times she went around that pillar before securing a tight knot at the back. When she finally came back around she saw that he had made himself comfortable, sinking down into a lazy sitting pose.

Loreli rubbed her arms absentmindedly as Madara glanced up at her in boredom.

The situation had become too absurd for her to handle. She wanted nothing more but to leave him tied up for someone to discover. But there were just two problems with doing that.

First of all, that would mean her defeat.

Secondly, he was too calm.

"Madara-sama, you don't happen to be armed, do you?" Loreli asked guardedly.

The leader of the Uchiha clan quirked a long, thin eyebrow at her question. Leisurely, Madara stretched out his long legs, crossing them before him.

"Two at the back, four at the waist, five up either sleeve, one above either heel," he drawled smoothly.

She glanced from his sharp, handsome face up to his wrists secured above his head.

…

"And you wouldn't happen to be able to free yourself with any of those, would you, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked hesitantly.

His visible brow rose higher, but other than that, his expression remained lazily indifferent. "Would you like to find out?" Madara inquired with a light drawl.

She knelt. He watched her with a barely perceivable smirk as she used her hands to search below his calf, reaching below the fabric to grasp the handle of the kunai. She flung the blade away, skidding atop the cold floor. Same with the other leg.

How was she supposed to get to the other weapons? If she had been thinking properly, she would've gotten him to disarm himself before she'd gotten him bound.

Loreli got up, slowly. It was far from over yet.

"Madara-sama." A touch of surprise penetrated his impassive countenance when she fairly straddled his waist. "…You don't think that I will attempt at your life?"

He appraised her with a veiled gaze. A small, wry smirk. "Do that," Madara told her lightly, "and you'll find that Izuna is a much less forgiving man."

…For some reason, Loreli didn't doubt that.

"I'll admit," she said, "I am jealous of the strong bond you brothers share." Smiling gently, she leaned in, asking, "Do you want to know how I tried to convince him?"

Her lips melted against his. But it wasn't a simple meeting of the lips. For the first time she was actually _kissing _him, and she sure as well could feel the shock in his response, her fingers entwining into his hair as far as their positioning allowed.

Loreli drew back, licking her lips absently, noting that the red of the crushed petals had stained his lips just like it had Izuna's.

"Ah, Madara-sama," she said sweetly in response to his slightly taken-aback expression, "you didn't think that I was a sweet, innocent girl who had never kissed anyone before you?"

Murderous reaction. His hands strained against his restraints.

"_Bitch,"_ sneered Madara.

She feigned a curious look. "Madara-sama, that's unfair. It's not like you ever bothered to find out anything about me. What if this is how I really am?"

Her hands reached for the sash around his waist, searching for the blades. She found them, the four of them. It looked like he wasn't lying. She tossed them aside.

Then she tugged his black shirt up from the waist.

Wounds. Bandaged wounds.

Temporarily forgetting herself, Loreli glanced up at his harsh, silent expression.

She had not even suspected that he had been injured during battle. He moved, talked, behaved with the same arrogance as he had always done.

"Madara-sama," she asked, "does it hurt?"

And he gritted his teeth murderously as she jabbed her elbow into his chest.

"I guess it does," Loreli concluded.

A pause. She drew up his shirt further.

Madara hissed as she clawed her nails across a slash which had not stopped bleeding completely yet.

His blood-red eyes stared at her with a tinge of realization when she licked off the tips of her fingers.

"You said you couldn't stand the scent of blood?" Uchiha Madara inquired smoothly.

She shrugged lightly. "Obviously a lie."

An immediate change. Rigid, he became; every muscle in his arms, his shoulders, his neck and his expression had gone tense with silent rage.

"What's the matter, Madara-sama?" asked Loreli, fiddling idly with long strands of his hair. She grasped one of his arms, bracing herself as she leaned down. "You thought me a simple girl incapable of deceit?"

She pulled down his sleeve and detached the five shuriken from the fabric.

Then she became entirely too self-conscious of the fact that, in her current pose, she could even feel his breathing fan against the base of her throat.

She stopped in midst of reaching for his other arm. Wetting her lips, Loreli sank back to his eye-level. She was about to speak, but the words eluded her. He was staring at her lips, with half-lidded eyes, silently. It didn't take much to understand what he was thinking.

"You want me, Madara-sama?"

His eyes snapped up. Snidely, Madara told her, "You're going to have to do better than that to tempt-"

Her lips locked against his, muting him before he even completed his sentence.

She felt the difference this time. He was not letting her actively explore his mouth but was responding in earnest. She couldn't quite reach the two blades behind his lower back, and she gave up, using her hands to brace herself by holding onto his hair.

He was drawing her in, commandingly, and Loreli realized with a jolt that it wasn't working at all in her favor.

Gasping, she yanked herself back, seeing rather than hearing the dangerous shinobi utter a curse under his breath. Her heartbeat was drumming too loudly inside her ears.

It was the fear and the anxiety, but also something else.

…Was she really allowing herself to be affected?

"Madara-sama," still a bit shakily, "you're really going to just let me tease you like this?"

…

Uchiha Madara arched a long eyebrow, arrogantly. "There will be certain…" smooth pause "…repercussions," Madara informed her.

She lowered the top of her robe, just enough to reveal the tops of her breasts.

Her hands slid across his abs, up his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing as his red eyes watched her intently.

"Madara-sama," Loreli asked, sliding her hands below the sash at his waist, "are you going to assist me with this?"

He sneered at her attempt to tug down his black trousers.

Apparently not.

She let out a deliberate sigh. "So it's not fine when _I_ do this?"

"_Don't,"_ Madara bit out scathingly, "push your luck."

…

…Oh, but she must.

He hissed in when she reached underneath the fabric to touch his tip. His arm jerked at the contact.

She felt her mouth go dry. Lightly, she ran her hand along the length which was proof of his desire for her.

There was another redness to his lips now, a flushed red that was not artificial.

Loreli realized that her body's reaction to this man was not entirely unfounded.

His eyes sharp and heavy-lidded, slanting exotically at the ends, long slashing eyebrows so impeccable that even the barest amount of reaction would be suggested on them, a nose straight and kingly, and lips a luscious dark, seductive.

Uchiha Madara was beautiful, albeit a sharp-edged, deadly beauty, which, combined with his sleek confidence, would nonetheless be able to cause every woman inside a room to fall a little bit in love with him when he walked in. His shoulders were wide, his waist narrow and hips slim, legs long and well-muscled, as with the rest of his body.

And he wanted her. Uchiha Madara stared back at her with intense eyes glazed over by something unspeakable. Perhaps that was what invoked the greater part of the response within her.

Madara's breathing came out ragged as she lightly stroked his length, his hands twisting within the bound of the ropes.

"Release me," Madara ordered her contemptuously.

She paused, blinking slowly at him.

"Release me right now!" snarled Madara.

Loreli wetted her dry lips before speaking. "But why would I want to do that?"

"I'm warning you," Uchiha Madara said smoothly, quietly, arching his long arrogant eyebrows, "release me this instant, and I may still go easy on you."

…

…She was faint. Wouldn't be surprised if she blacked out.

Loreli knew she was probably risking everything on the suspicion that he _could_ and _would_ get himself loose if she disobeyed his command.

"Madara-sama," she breathed out, "you don't think that I have it in me to simply walk away?"

A brave smile. She got up to prove her point.

"You won't stop me, Madara-sama? I suppose I'm impressed."

…

She had gotten no further than the second pillar when he swerved her shoulder back, pinning her back against the wall.

Loreli felt herself choke on dread as she met his livid red eyes, mere inches from her own. His hands found her waist.

"But, Madara-sama…" she started.

"Another time," Madara told her, breathless and insistent, bunching up the skirt her robe.

" But-"

"I said, another time!" Madara growled, pressing his body flushed against hers to silence her protests.

Loreli swallowed, feeling his harsh breathing next to her head. She didn't think she'd seen him this urgent before.

She gasped, his knee nudging one of her legs up as his fingers slipped beneath her panties. She grasped his arm, hard. "Ma-"

His other arm encircled her waist, hoisting her up. Her words were choked off as he nibbled and sucked at the skin on her throat, then lower.

Her hands automatically went up to his hair, wanting to pull him away. His fingers slid inside her.

Loreli squirmed helplessly, her chest heaving and matching his ragged breathing, and more she did, the more of his intoxicating scent got to her, blurring her thoughts.

She bit her lip as his fingers moved within her, gripping his hard shoulders. She was wet, her body having responded to his close proximity, and it mortified her for him to know.

His arm left her waist. She heard him loosen the sash at his waist.

"_You want me,"_ Madara breathed enticingly, veiled red eyes slanting a look up and impaling her with their intensity. He withdrew his fingers, slowly lifting her legs clear off the floor and causing her to brace back against the wall for support. Her heart beat out of control.

He wrapped her legs around him.

She inhaled sharply as he entered her, filling her completely.

"Wrap your arms around me," Madara commanded, pausing in his movements.

Loreli hesitated. Then she leaned forward and encircled her arms around him and his long majesty mane.

"_Yes,"_ he breathed hotly into her ear, _"like that."_

She shuddered involuntarily, gripping fistfuls of his ebony hair at the back as he shifted his hold on her waist, holding her in place while he continued his deep thrusts inside her.

"M-Madara-sama," Loreli breathed, inhaling rapidly, "a bit-" gasping at his force "…a bit gentler."

He paused, breathing softly, glancing at her. Then he moved again, losing some of his urgency as his warm lips brushed sensually along her jaw.

The shuddering became a trembling as he started a slower pace. Much too slow, much too sensual, much too remindful of that day he had her completely under his power, just as he had now.

Loreli clawed into his back, searching for a way to anchor herself from the sensations he aroused within her. Madara either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Madara-sama," she said his name in a half-whisper, choked.

She realized she'd rather not feel pleasured by him. It was too much turmoil for her to be experiencing both physical pleasure and emotional pain at the same time.

"Faster," Loreli told him, shivering from his hot breath on the curve of her throat. "Madara-sama, you're going too easy on me."

Again, the long-haired shinobi paused, red eyes slimming as he glanced up at her. She could've sworn he made a sound of exasperation.

"Make up your damn mind!" snapped Madara, irritably.

"Or I will make it up for you," Madara informed her, when she didn't respond.

"…Do it," she said.

"Ah-!" Clinging onto his shoulders, Loreli swallowed. Madara withdrew halfway before ramming in again, observing her expression with an arched brow. She could hear the wet sound of him meeting the end each time.

But he didn't speed up, and in fact, he seemed to have slowed down gradually, jerking her up each time and causing a tingling sensation to linger when he withdrew slowly after each powerful thrust.

Loreli had gritted her teeth, writhing to no avail, since he held her by the waist, his body crushing hers against the wall. Sweat had started to form in her palms, on her temples. She could see her breath in the dankness of the storage room.

The sensation building up at her base, winding its way up, was not foreign to her.

Kami-sama…she didn't want to…

His soft grunts drew her attention, his hands tightening their hold on her. Loreli watched, transfixed, as a thin trickle of sweat trailed down the side of his face to join his already damp hair at the base of his neck. Madara was clenching his jaw, dark lush lips drawn back in concentration.

…She realized with a jolt that he was _holding back_, holding back for her.

Loreli gritted her teeth, trying to bite back the intense sensation washing over her, soon rocking her along with it.

She gasped, her entire body giving in to violent spasms as she gripped his hair tightly, hearing him let out a long, low grunt, releasing himself inside her with one final thrust, harder than the rest.

Madara was panting against her skin, his hot breath washing over her bare collarbone, before he gathered his bearings, lifting his weight from her.

Feeling drained and boneless, she slid to the floor and curled up on her side, facing away from him.

She let out a small shuddering sigh, still waiting for the traitorous sensations to abate.

Loreli listened to him rewind the sash around his waist before letting out another breath. Emotions and precautions failed her completely.

"…I'm not impressed, Madara-sama…"

* * *

He had turned back, crossing his arms into a fold.

But this sight he had not expected to see.

Red eyes narrowing suspiciously, Madara went back towards her.

She was _asleep_. And she wasn't faking it.

The leader of the Uchiha clan stopped before her curled up form, her lips and skin still flushed and a vision of temptation.

He could wake her and have this matter settled once and for all. He would've had no qualms about doing just that before, why would it matter to him, now?

Darkly, Madara contemplated down at her before reaching down.

She didn't even stir from the dark shadow which fell over her. Madara felt a sneer form on his cruel lips.

Too defenseless.

What he did instead was to briskly smooth down her robe before lifting her up into his arms.

"M-Madara-sama," an Uchiha woman in passing addressed him dutifully when he emerged authoritatively from the room, her questioning gaze resting on the unconscious woman in his arms.

"Her room," Uchiha Madara said curtly, commandingly.

"T-this way, Madara-sama," the woman answered hastily, turning to lead the way.

He soon realized the reason for the anxiety the Uchiha woman displayed.

His _wife _had chosen a room directly at the very end of the hallway in the women's quarters, a place where the disciplined men of the Uchiha did not come and go about easily.

Nice, Madara thought darkly, very nice. Not even the guards he'd chosen for her would be able to keep a close eye on her there.

"I wish to bring her to her room," Madara drawled in boredom, to the Uchiha woman who watched him nervously. He arched an arrogant eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"

"Of-of course not, Madara-sama," she answered.

He was _Uchiha Madara_, their clan's renowned leader. No one would dare defy _him._

His jaw tightened at the thought, letting out a displeased sound.

Yet this _scandalous woman-_

Madara fairly kicked her door open, and stood fixated on the spot.

…'To temporarily reside in', she said?

His increasingly murderous red gaze roved over the lining of furniture, the array of clothes spread out on the chairs, the open closet, her redecorated walls and floor, random bits of her craft lying around.

The drapes were new, parted, allowing sunshine from the outside to filter through the bright room, endowing it with the sense of familiarity.

Temporarily reside in? Madara was positively seething on the inside with silent fury. She had every intention of_ living_ here. Inhabiting a permanent space separate from his.

"Madara-sama, should I get-?"

"She's fine!" Madara snapped back sharply, causing the young woman within his arms to stir.

He set her down abruptly on the bed, and it appeared she reacted but did not awaken. The delicate female instinctively tried to curl up on her side, her fingers weakly trying to grasp the bed covering beneath.

After a moment Madara turned back towards the door, arms folded. "Why are you still here?" he wanted to know, snide eyebrows rising at the Uchiha woman still hanging by the doorway.

"Ah- Madara-sama," she stammered with lowered eyes, "my lady- my lady is tired."

"So I can _see," _Madara replied sleekly, arrogantly.

So it was true. She had won over the women in the center complex. They were daring to speak up to him for the sake of their mistress's well being.

He frowned ominously as the Uchiha woman hesitated but went on, her words tumbling over one another.

"Madara-sama, my lady had not been resting well s-since word came that the men were returning from battle. She'd been so anxious with-"

Madara cut her short with a cool order. "Get out."

She didn't dare speak further. Bowing respectfully, the Uchiha woman retreated.

He paced back to the sleeping figure on the bed, musing darkly.

"My dear," Madara said smoothly, knowing she couldn't hear his words, "you strike a hard bargain."

Leaning down, the shinobi freed one of his arms from his crossed-arms posture, lightly caressing a lock of her hair.

A slow smirk spread itself on his dark lips. He lowered himself down and spoke quietly next to her ear, _"It's dangerous." _

* * *

...

**A/N: **So, before you sue me for making the ending lame or Madara too mushy; it's all for the plot, m'dears. All for the plot. Yes, I do know where I'm going with all this.

Ahh. My course load is a killer T-T. I honestly don't know when next chapter can be up, since I truly struggled with this one already. Yep…I'm trying to get back to my doujin, too.


	14. War of the Petals III

**A/N:** LOL good question, let's see…if Madara returns from battle all wounded, who thinks Loreli will likely pour salt on him? …I wouldn't exactly be surprised. But that's why I think they're such a cute couple X3

Ah, since I forgot to mention it last chapter, I will thank eimi here for putting 'that idea' into my head when she remarked that it'd be fun to see Madara getting tied up by Loreli!

* * *

**Till You Die**

13 – _War of the Petals III_

* * *

A dark, comforting oblivion. A heavy weight, pressing down on her mind. A profound numbness in her limbs.

Twice, she came near the surface with a start, but she couldn't quite remember the reason for the knot of anxiety tightening inside her chest, and so the darkness subdued her yet again.

And then she dreamt.

…It was snowing, a blanket of white all around her. She was young again; a small, wrapped up figure standing amidst the sunlit snow.

Her mother's voice, calling for her to come home.

…But she couldn't move. Something was weighing her down. She couldn't return home, suddenly realizing that the snow was melding around her, sinking her in. She tried crying out for her sweet mother, but her mother's voice repeated that same line over and over, and seemed to grow more and more distant.

Loreli woke in cold sweat, acutely alert all at once.

For a long, terrifying moment, she sat up in the bed, uncomprehending, as light flooded in from between the drawn curtains, bathing everything in a white sheen.

Then she remembered. She had wanted to feign being asleep earlier, and evidently sleep had really taken her into its abyssal depths.

Rising up, Loreli went to the bathroom, disoriented, fumbling on the shelf next to the sink for something until she realized she didn't know what she meant to look for.

She missed…she missed the kindly smiling eyes of a certain young man, as well as the vibrant laugh of her mistress.

"My lady." A muffled voice outside the door opening up to her chambers. Yet it startled her out of the haze she didn't know had enveloped her.

"Are you awake, my lady?"

Loreli hesitated. Her mind felt unpleasantly empty, and she was trying to remember if there was anything that she was forgetting. Was she being paranoid in wondering if there was a reason for someone waiting outside her door? Waiting carefully enough to have heard her get up.

"…I am awake," she replied, and then realized she was probably speaking too lightly for the person to hear.

Gathering her bearings, Loreli went, heart pounding, to the door, swinging it open to reveal the young Uchiha woman on the other side.

"My lady," the woman said, blinking rapidly and stammering, "Si-since you are awake" pause. Loreli realized then the reason for the light blush that crept over the other woman's cheeks.

Loreli reached up and felt the skin on her throat, her collarbone, and her shoulders. A surge of heat flooded through her.

Oh! She could only imagine what a mess she appeared.

As Loreli instinctively stepped behind the door, the Uchiha woman continued. "The leader has ordered us to help with the moving of your belongings."

That took a moment to sink in.

"…Madara-sama ordered?" Loreli asked cautiously, her mind trying to keep up.

"Yes, my lady," the other woman informed, "he wants you to move back to his quarters."

…

"And also," it was added with a curious look, "the leader said that if you have any opposition, he can be found in the training area up north."

…

"…So he did, did he?" Loreli said dryly, almost as though to herself.

"My lady," the other woman inquired, "shall I ask for assistance with your belongings?"

Loreli looked to her room sharply, the sudden action causing her mind to spin. A wave of anxiety hit her.

"Hold on to that thought," she said breathlessly.

"Pardon?"

"I'm going to find him," Loreli replied hastily, turning around in a full circle, "as soon as-…as soon as…" As soon as what? What did she-

She caught sight of the showy robes sewn across one of the chairs and remembered.

"P-please fetch me something that will cover up -…" she paused "a high-collared shirt the men wear will do," Loreli decided.

"My lady?" the Uchiha woman asked, bewildered.

"Do that for me," Loreli pleaded, "I will handle the rest."

* * *

…

A good deal of persuasion and a long bath later, she was feeling more like herself.

That wasn't to say that Loreli had spent most of her life dressed as a male. Never have, in fact. Nonetheless, the startled glances she received were a small price to pay in exchange for not having the red marks on her skin exposed.

…

Expecting her to go to him, was he?

…

It was hot outside. A stark contrast to the cold early mornings. Yet despite the stifling heat, there was a sign, almost a scent; a crisp freshness marking the end of summer. The sun was giving that last burst of energy in defiance before succumbing to harsher winds and biting cold.

Under the afternoon sun, the two brothers were no more than a blur of black and a flash of white.

Izuna was the one who noticed her first.

"Aw, Sister-in-law!"

The next thing she knew, he was behind her, slipping free from Uchiha Madara's furious onslaught.

Loreli choked as the Uchiha clan's leader snapped his livid red eyes to them.

…A standstill. The deadly energy still ran rampant in the air.

Blood.

Her lips pursed at the sight of the dark, drying trickle of blood from Madara's nose. More blood from a slit on his lower lip, red on the area of his chin where it smudged. Upon inspection, she saw that those were probably the least of his injuries.

Loreli swung her gaze around to Izuna.

The bandages around Izuna's head were loose. He was covering his right eye with his hand, his breathing heavy with a slight gurgling noise audible each time he inhaled.

But it was a grin he wore upon his bruised lips.

"Did you know, my lady?" Izuna forestalled her words by commenting good-naturedly, "The ones who are assertive and controlling in a relationship…are typically also the ones who are the most…sensitive."

She swallowed, her heart skipping in a most unpleasant way as Madara's eyes narrowed on them forebodingly.

"Take it easy on me," Izuna requested of her, eyes creased and winsome smile in full effect. "I fear _for_ _my life."_

In the next instant, he was gone, leaving her to face his elder brother on her own.

Loreli couldn't help but stare at the blank space left behind and wonder how she'd managed to survive this long without experiencing a heart attack.

…Tension. Each second stretched long and taut as she tried not to study the implication in Izuna's words.

"Ah."

An ominous chill swept down her spine at the sound of that voice. When she looked back, slowly, she saw that Madara was removing his black gloves from his hands, slanting a sidelong stare at her with his intense red eyes as the tall shinobi circled her leisurely.

"You're up sooner than I thought," Uchiha Madara remarked with arms crossed as he came to a stop, a touch of arrogance ever-so-present in his tone.

"Um."

Did she just stammer?

Madara's long visible brow rose in mock surprise. "You actually took my advice on how to dress?"

Loreli blinked once.

He was reaching out a hand, touching the hem of her shirt's high collar.

"But, _this_ I didn't expect," remarked Madara, his wry smirk a dead giveaway.

…It settled in slowly.

So, it had been on purpose?

"Madara-sama," said Loreli, taking a backward step, "the women wanted me to bring water to you."

She proceeded to pour water from the tall heavy jug she had lugged there with her into a bowl.

Ah…her blood was simmering.

Loreli felt her jaw clench as she reflexively held the bowl of water out to him, and then thought about it.

There was the perceivable trace of surprise on Uchiha Madara's sharp features when she splashed it aside.

Loreli poured it again, and again splashed the water to the dry earth.

And she did it again.

By then Madara had refolded his arms, looking as though he was dealing with a child who's throwing a tantrum. He licked a corner of his dark lips, long eyebrows arching arrogantly. "Still mad?" guessed Madara.

She blinked as though he said something absurd.

"Why, Madara-sama," Loreli replied with a curious tone, "I am simply giving you time to cool down after your workout. This jug is from the storage; Madara-sama is not aware that the coldness could harm the body?"

Of course, he didn't buy into that. Then again, neither had she wanted him to.

"Heh." Turning to the side but still watching her, the Uchiha clan's leader slapped his gloves into his palm. "I will make you a proposal."

…

Loreli set down the jug.

"…Then, I hope this won't leave me with a hurt ankle like the last one."

He looked to her sharply. A halt.

Madara's recovery came speedily.

"I will allow you all the influence and discretion the mistress of the clan deserves," Madara told her smoothly, arrogantly.

"Ah," Loreli asked sweetly, "but…?"

She saw his dark lips tighten at her obvious sarcasm before drawing back to a lazy smirk.

Loreli fought the urge to flinch as he stepped towards her. He even shadowed her from the blinding rays of the sun overhead.

"I will even tolerate such impertinence," Madara informed her with a light drawl, silkily, leaning over with arms folded. His eyebrows arching tauntingly down at her, the long-haired shinobi added, "_Only when _we're making love."

…She was already walking away.

It could've been a mistake, but she thought she heard his low, velvety chuckle as he promised after her, "You'll be back."

* * *

There was a problem.

If it had been a single curious little lizard that had wandered in, it wouldn't have distracted her enough that she had already pricked her fingers twice—and Loreli was usually a rather slow but careful needleworker.

But they kept spawning, and seemingly out of nowhere. She had to wonder where he was getting all these things. Got his men to help out, perhaps?

Back at the castle, Loreli had taken care of petty pests, spiders and caterpillars and mice, because Yuzuzu-hime, and often younger servant girls depended on her. A lizard wasn't going to scare her. However, anything in excess was just…

Half of the women, mainly the younger ones, had already fled the room, using the excuse of going to find a net or other unessential item.

"What is this?" someone huffed indignantly. "A summoning gone haywire?"

Loreli shrugged off one lizard that was attempting to climb up her leg. She set aside her materials and rose up.

"No, Madara-sama is getting back at me."

She returned a small, mirthless smile at their utter incredulity.

Loreli wondered just how many of them would be _able_ to believe her—much less help her—if she revealed the truth about everything.

She helped the remaining Uchiha women as they tried to catch and pack the reptiles into boxes meant for containing lint. "Why don't we have lizard stew tonight?"

* * *

She found the women's suggestion hard to believe; that the salt had simply been misplaced by sugar. When she returned from the storage room she found that both of the jars were now containing salt.

Unbelievable. He would stoop down to her level?

"Will you catch some insects for Kamseki for me?" Loreli asked her assigned guard—her number one suspect—conversationally, having named her lizard Kamseki after deciding that it was a female and resembled one of the haughty ladies back at court.

"My lady-"

"Ah, but you see," she interrupted, tossing a glance around as she attempted to not get bitten by her new pet, "you are the only one I can ask. I wonder where the other guard went."

Finding other ways to sabotage her work, perhaps? Like how the laundry room heated up to astronomical levels just a bit earlier. The sun, the women rationalized it as. Just like how they reasoned the slippery floor outside the soap-making room as a spill. A pity. She'd just have to save the bleaching of their leader's clothes till another day.

"My lady, the other guard is assisting with the moving of your items back to Madara-sama's quarters."

Her pet lizard gave a hiss in protest at being dropped abruptly.

Loreli recovered enough to say blandly, "I guess you can explain to Madara-sama why I won't be present at dinnertime." She kneeled down, but the little monster eluded her grasp. She sighed. "Unless, do you need to be accompanying me in catching Kamseki some food?"

Though his stoic expression remained intact as always, she knew he understood.

"I will return shortly, my lady."

The shinobi gave her an indifferent half-bow and was gone.

Immediately Loreli tossed her apron aside and headed for the women's quarters. She had hoped that she had established her independence from the guards by setting up her boundary within the women's quarters, but of course, _Madara-sama's_ authority can easily override hers.

It was usually quiet around this area of the inner complex, with the thick-walled rooms that kept cool during the summer and the lacquered wooden floor which creaked under pressure during the nights.

The women were protesting against the moving of their mistress's belongings while their mistress was not present.

Loreli interrupted them calmly, "It's alright, let him do his job." Her trunk in which she stored her sewing materials was getting taken away. No matter. She'd just have to restart her sewing project from scratch.

Glances of apology were cast her way. Loreli gave a small reassuring smile and told them, "You can all return to what you were doing."

"However," to her shinobi guard she said, "I will pack my things myself."

The Uchiha women complied quietly. They regard her with polite curiosity and took good care of her, but there was always a…distance, a perpetual guest-hostess relationship. It was the secrecy, for the most part. It was like they could sense that there was something between her and their leader that was not meant to be spoken of, so few if any ventured to know her better in fear of upsetting a delicate balance.

Just a bit…that made her just a bit lonely.

Loreli set that thought aside. So he wanted her to go to him. But preventing her belongings from being moved would be just too easy.

Left alone as request, Loreli took her time going down the corridor, slowly reaching the end where she let herself into the room she had grown quite attached to by then. She paced through it, thinking.

She could horde up all the furniture from the empty rooms in the women's quarters into this one. Her guards wouldn't be able to differentiate, and they certainly can't be bringing everything to their leader's quarters, can they? Or would it be easier to simply sleep here on the floor tonight?

Loreli glanced down at the floor contemplatively, weighing her options.

The sound of shattering glass shocked a gasp from her. She spun.

The large vase from the high shelf had fallen, causing the startling loud sound. She was about to let out a sigh of relief, but then she saw it. The blood froze in her veins.

Slowly, faintly, Loreli backed up until she felt her back against the doorframe. Her finger grasped the doorknob and she turned, slipping out silently.

"Itoh," Loreli closed the door behind her and addressed the young Uchiha woman coming out of a room down the corridor. Her heart pounded heavily as the other woman approached her curiously.

"By any chance, is there any milk—any kind—in the storage room?"

The mute woman blinked and nodded.

"Will you bring me a bowl of milk? Thank you."

Loreli watched her leave. She then went down the corridor, searching for an uninhabited room, and when she found one she entered, taking one of the flatter leather-bound trunks from the foot of the bed.

Itoh returned by the time she had carried the trunk to the door of her own room. The young Uchiha woman looked bewildered when Loreli took the bowl from her and placed it inside the opened trunk.

Gingerly, Loreli nudged her door open and slid the trunk in. She raised a finger to her lips as a gesture for silence, maintaining a calm composure as possible despite the coldness which raked through her spine.

Serpents were quite common in the Fire Country. Loreli had seen her share during her life. Occasionally Yuzuzu-hime or another of the nobility would receive anonymous gifts, meant as a threat than anything else, for it was the servants who suffered from unraveling the tokens of hate. These were times of war, after all. She knew the difference between a poisonous serpent and a harmless one.

This was undoubtedly a poisonous serpent, sleek form slithering unheedingly across the jagged shards of the shattered vase, forked tongue tasting the air as its head hovered up before gliding its long form towards them.

No serpent could resist the scent of milk, after all. She just hoped those tiny dark eyes were not actually seeing her as they appeared to be, and that it wouldn't be able to sense her heightened fear as it drew closer.

The serpent paused before the trunk, rising up, wavering from side to side. It couldn't see them, Loreli knew, for serpents have terrible vision, but it seemed to have sensed that something was there. She tensed and waited with bated breath.

It was an eternity, this wait. She was well aware of the striking power of a deadly serpent that size. Within seconds it could lurch itself at her, wrap its long scaly body around her neck, and sink those venomous fangs inside her throat.

She was shaking.

Then, just as Loreli thought she couldn't take it anymore, the serpent moved, darting its head into the trunk to begin lapping greedily at the bowl of milk. She almost let out a sigh of relief then, but she couldn't. Only when the serpent had slowly, agonizingly slow, curled the rest of its body into the trunk did she close the lid gingerly and bolted it.

She turned to Itoh behind her, who was pale and wide-eyed.

"Get Izuna for me," Loreli said finally. "Use any means, but bring him to me."

* * *

Yes, there was a problem.

A problem which wouldn't be solved by her sitting stubbornly on her trunk smack in the center of the doorway, but at least it worked in the short run.

"But" her guard was saying "if my lady won't allow me past, I won't be able to carry out my orders to bring my lady's possessions to the leader's room."

To which Loreli coolly replied, "Then we're agreed."

The shinobi could move her by force, of course, but since she had paled so visibly the first time he came closer—and that was only to attempt to get around her—he hadn't tried again.

"I will take over from here."

Loreli hadn't thought there'd ever be a time when she would feel so relieved upon hearing Izuna's voice and seeing his calming visage.

"Izuna…"

"Mind the women," Izuna said to her guard, indicating to the handful of women who had paused further down the hallway to look on curiously.

That left them alone.

He went down to one knee before her, taking hold of her hands in his. Her hands were cold.

"What is it?" Izuna asked. His normally laughing eyes were calm and composed, gazing steadily into her eyes. Quietly, "You can confide in me, mistress." Any other time, she'd reward him with a skeptical look, but this was not the time.

Tersely, Loreli replied, "There was a snake in my room."

She saw him tense immediately, rising up with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"I'm sitting on it."

Once, twice he blinked.

Lowering himself back down, Izuna held out an arm to her. "It's alright, my lady, take my arm." How did he know that her mind felt numb and her limbs felt they had been asleep for hours? She was feeling so detached from reality, she couldn't even bring herself to accept his offer.

For once, Loreli didn't mind when his arm encircled her and lifted her up to a careful stand.

"Please don't let it come this way," she breathed.

"Have no fear, my lady," he assured her. "You are under my protection."

Without another word Izuna broke through the bolting with the tip of his sword and used his sword to flip open the lid of the trunk.

"There's nothing here, my lady."

She blinked, not trusting her ears.

A hand reached up to feel her forehead. "I hear you haven't been able to rest well lately, my lady," Izuna commented.

It was true. There was nothing inside the trunk aside from the bowl of milk, untouched.

Loreli pulled away from his hand. "…How is this possible? I-…" She hadn't even moved from that spot since she had sent for Izuna.

"My lady, you haven't felt movement from within all this time you were sitting on it, have you?" Izuna asked, an amused smile tilting up the corners of his eyes.

Loreli pursed her lips. "…No, I don't think…" She looked at him. "…You think I was dreaming it up?"

Izuna leaned his head to one side, still smiling. "It's not that, but…"

"It was a snake," Loreli insisted, "a poisonous one." She stopped and clenched her jaw. Of course, Itoh had been there to witness, but the young Uchiha woman was mute. Feeling rather indignant, Loreli pushed open the door the rest of the way and briskly entered her room.

"It came from the vase," she said, pointing to the broken shards still lying on at the base of the high shelf. "The woman who I've sent to fetch you saw me lure it inside the trunk. No one else knows." Loreli turned back, crossing her arms. "You won't believe me?"

He had stepped inside her room, and was strolling leisurely. "And you're saying she's been with you the entire time?" Izuna wanted to know, quirking an eyebrow.

"No," Loreli replied, a bit curtly because he didn't seem to be taking her seriously. "She wasn't with me from the start," she added. "I asked her for a bowl of milk while I went and brought in this trunk."

She watched as Izuna reached down and picked up a shard. He gave a soft laugh. "There is no cause for alarm, sister-in-law. It was only an illusion."

She blinked rapidly a few times. "Wh-?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Izuna reminded her with creased eyes, "but weren't the guards Madara assigned to you supposed to move your possessions to his quarters?"

…

As he watched, Loreli slowly went back to the door. She paused. Then, without a word, she bent down and took the bowl of milk out of the open trunk and left the room without a backwards glance.

Izuna winced.

…It was potentially going to get very, very ugly. He followed her out to the hallway for a short distance, yet he didn't stop her. He had a more pressing concern to attend to.

"Let her," the Uchiha clan's second-in-command said to the two shinobi guards who had been waiting outside the women's quarters.

"Izuna-sama."

He glanced commandingly to the two of them. "I want a list of names of everyone who had been near this area in the past hour. No one else is to suspect anything. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Izuna-sama."

* * *

She had originally thought that, no matter what manner of abuse he dished out at her, he wouldn't succeed in making her go to him first.

But he had gone too far.

Just her luck that he was seated closest to the entrance when she heaved the double doors open.

The gathering of shinobi inside the meeting room barely had time to register her presence before the object flung clashed down on the table before them.

…He had evaded the throw, of course. But that didn't mean none of it got on him.

"…Have me murdered if you will, but are you so less a man that you sought to intimidate a woman into compliance by using such low tactics?" Loreli asked in low challenge.

Slowly, without turning in his seat, Uchiha Madara reached up a hand, pulling away dripping locks of his long ebony hair from the side of his face. The eyes of his men were trained on her, varying degrees of shock written in the taut lines of their face.

"Ah, forgive me," she said amidst the stifling silence, "in my distress…I've seemed to forgotten that Madara-sama meant to keep up appearances. I'm the one who dropped the pretense first. What are you going to do about it, Madara-sama?"

Out of her mind. She was out of her mind. She knew this and for the life of her, she couldn't stop herself.

So he cared that much about appearances did he? Was it not enough to make her miserable, but that he also had to make it seem like she was completely insane if she told anyone else about her woes?

"Would you men like to know what kind of man your leader really is; how I came to be his 'wife'?"

"Get out."

A quiet order. The deadliest. Her voice caught in a lump at her throat and she fell silent.

But she realized it wasn't her who he was referring to. Silently, one by one, the rest of the men in the room got up and left. Loreli counted the number of times the door swung open and close behind her, trying to take her mind off her current situation.

…She didn't regret it. Even if her heart stopped right there and then…she wouldn't allow herself to regret it.

At least, that's what she wanted to believe. The moment Uchiha Madara had turned around in his seat, however, Loreli felt as though the ground itself was trembling beneath her.

The laid-back posture—his head leaning into one hand, arm propped up on the back of his seat, long legs crossed before him—was a ruse. The malevolence flowing off him was so sharp then, she wouldn't be surprised if he reached out the next instant to snap her wrist.

Coolly. "Come here, my cute wife."

She realized he was beckoning her to him with his free hand, his red eyes cold and expressionless as he slanted a long eyebrow up at her.

…Loreli didn't move.

He saw the resolve in her eyes. Red Sharingan flared to life.

"_NOW!"_

Her breathing became broken gasps. Oh, the heavens help her! She couldn't-… She wasn't strong enough to defy him in this!

A dark, velvety chuckle as he lightly grasped her arm, slowly drawing her closer. "Were you perhaps hoping that a valiant shinobi would take pity on you?" Madara asked smoothly, tauntingly.

…She couldn't reply, couldn't _think._

"Ah, I think it's time you learn your place," Madara observed. Long fingers gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. "You are the mistress of the clan," he told her lightly. "But," curtly, "the master…" Madara drawled, arching long arrogant eyebrows and his hair twitching along with the jerk of his head _"…It's me."_

He gave her captive arm a hard yank. Taken off-guard, Loreli gasped, finding herself sprawled across his lap, one of his knees digging into her stomach, as his legs were still crossed. She tried to slide to the side, but his arm wrapped around her and dragged her back into place. She tried to get up, but he pinned her down with one hand at the small of her back, her hair falling to block her view.

She could hear the racing of her heart as she choked out, "What are you-?"

"You humiliated me in front of my men," Madara's voice drawled coolly, unhurriedly. "Under our accord, I have the right to repay you in kind, do I not?"

She felt him peel down the long shorts she had opted to wear while she struggled and kicked. Cool air from the room caressed her exposed skin. Panic and disbelief laced through her at the realization of what he meant to do.

No way… Loreli finally understood what a fish must feel on dry land, except here she was impaled on his risen knee, and when she hit him with her fists, he pinned down her wrists to her back as well. She was rendered completely at his mercy.

"…Release me, you brute. I-"

He stuffed a gag in her mouth. "It disgusts me when you women cry," she heard Madara's voice drawl coldly as a way of explanation.

The first smack resounded loudly inside the room, and it _stung._ She suspected that was because she hadn't actually believed he'd do it… And she flinched as the second one came down. _Spanking_ her like a child? If anything, she'd have expected a whip to her back, as she was accustomed to. Then again, if he meant to shame her, she supposed this way would be more effective.

Which wasn't to say it didn't hurt. Loreli wondered, wincing, if the man even knew his own strength. She swallowed repeatedly, trying to relax as to lessen the sting, but it simply wasn't possible. She quit struggling as it was futile and tried to concentrate on something else, which became increasingly difficult the longer her upper body dangled over his knee, her blood rushing to her head. She felt suffocated.

"Ah, weren't the one who bargained for equality?" she heard him ask her arrogantly. A chuckle. He paused momentarily to question her mockingly, "Can't stand your own petty tricks when they've been thrown back at you?"

She jerked her defiance, earning her another agonizing smack. Her entire backside felt aflame. He was taking her punishment seriously, and she didn't have to see to know that her skin was turning cherry red. What bothered her more, however, was that one arm which he had twisted behind her back was losing feeling.

"Will you apologize?" Madara asked her smoothly, more as a taunt than anything else.

…She shook her head at his infuriating question.

For her stubbornness she was rewarded with more merciless smacks, even paced but each one seemingly harder than the last. She choked on the gag in her mouth but didn't attempt to spit it out, as it was helping her keep her distress to herself. Her backside got numb, but still Madara gave no indication of stopping. She was sure that if she started sobbing, any trained shinobi outside the doors would be able to hear her, as surely as the sharp sounds bouncing off the walls could be heard.

"You haven't had enough yet?" Madara inquired with lazy arrogance. "Make no mistake. You will not be forgiven until I hear an earnest apology from your lips."

That promise seemed to have brought an end to her resolve. She squirmed feebly, struggling beneath his relentless blows. Finally, she coughed out the gag in her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice hoarse.

"You said something?" Madara asked, eyebrows rising in mock question, though she couldn't see him.

"I'm sorry," Loreli repeated. "I'm-" A whimper of pain escaped her as his hand came down yet again. "Please," she choked, "I must-! I'm sorry!"

She felt him lean in closer. _"Lou-der," _Madara suggested, punctuating each arrogant syllable.

She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. She knew he said that because he wanted for whoever was outside to hear. She knew that, but…

His knee had been jabbing into her guts for way too long. She was nauseous. She couldn't_ breathe_ properly. She was dizzy and her head felt like it was swelling up, and she had a massive headache. With the knowledge that he wasn't going to let her go until she begged him for mercy, it was too much for her to handle.

A sob erupted from her throat. She renewed her struggle, pleading piteously beneath his cruel hand. "I'm sorry!" Loreli cried, raising her voice as he had demanded. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I beg you! Please release me! I-"

Loreli broke off, struggling for air.

Thankfully, it was then that Madara finally chose to release her. She lurched to the side, dropping away from his lap despite knowing no feeling in her arms.

She retched, attempting to dispel the nausea caused by being in that uncomfortable position for so long by hurling up the contents of her stomach—which didn't work, since she hadn't gotten a chance to eat since that morning.

It appeared that she had blacked out for a short while. When she became aware of everything again, Madara was slowly lifting her up to a stand. Her lower lip quivered involuntarily at the contact. She did not meet his eyes.

But when she felt his fingers tilting her chin up, she jerked away instinctively. Loreli froze, fearing that she had just offended him. Then her eyes started burning again, excruciatingly so. She swallowed, testing her arms by readjusting her clothes back into their proper place.

Just that, the feel of cloth smoothing over her skin, threatened to send her back into a black oblivion.

"Did I say you may leave?"

She paused, glancing back but unseeing. Slowly, she pulled herself away from the edge of the table she was using as support, relying instead on her wobbly legs.

"Get away from the door." Madara's low command.

A hesitation.

…Later. She'd listen to the rest of what he had to say _later_, but right now-…if she tried to speak _right now_…

She had no doubt he would make her pay for this obedience, but even so, Loreli swung the door open with a jerk and darted through without a backwards glance.

Bright spots dotted the corners of her vision as she collided into someone outside.

Loreli glanced disconcertedly up at the solemn expression of Uchiha Izuna, then at the other men from earlier who had been ordered outside the room. The other men, at least, she was sure had been there the entire time. A few expressions ranged from shock to pity, but the majority wore a smug look which said she finally got what she deserved.

The hard lump inside her throat became unbearably tight.

"_Stop her!"_ Madara's voice snapped as she slipped past Izuna and ran.

"Leave her!" Izuna's counter-command. He intercepted Madara's path by striking one leg out to the other side of the doorframe, crossing his arms and leaning back against his side of the door. Izuna met Madara's narrowed eyes. "I need to speak to you. It is of utmost importance."

"Everyone else can be dismissed," the Uchiha clan's second-in-command said calmly to the rest of the men.

…

"Dare I make a prediction?" Izuna asked with an amused expression, feigned. "You are going to lose her before you figure out your own state of mind."

Madara spun back around to face him, irritably.

"You had something to tell me?" Madara reminded him, a sneer.

…Izuna stared silently at Madara for a moment longer before asking, "What would you do if I tell you a serpent—a poisonous one—had been found in one of her vases that was to be moved to your room?"

His brother didn't need to say anything. His reaction was easily discernable.

"…I see." Izuna rubbed his forehead with one hand. "Then she was right in coming to me."

"What are you saying, Izuna?" Madara demanded lowly. "Was she behind it or not?"

At this, Izuna let out a sigh. "…I will be frank. A poisonous snake won't be enough to endanger an experienced shinobi like you. A poisonous snake won't be able kill her if she screamed for her guards. She is not as simple as you think she is, dear brother mine. She _knew_ it was meant to be found in the context that she meant you harm, but fortunately she discovered it before anything happened. Madara…" Izuna quirked an inquisitive eyebrow "…why do you think she asked for _me_ first? She told no one else."

Madara didn't speak, his expression didn't soften, but Izuna knew he was sharp enough to follow everything being said.

"I suppose I can understand what that poor girl must be feeling right about now," Izuna commented. "Here, in a foreign place against her will, not knowing who to trust and her husband, the only person she could hypothetically rely on, is a man who would play mean pranks on her and would suspect her if anyone frames her for a crime."

"_Enough." _

Madara had folded his arms, thin-lipped and the sinews in his neck taut.

"For a seemingly innocent girl like her," Madara observed coolly, arching snide eyebrows, "she sure has her share of men who are willing to give their lives for her."

Izuna matched his intent with half-lidded eyes. He knew Madara was sensible enough to see the truth, but his brother was simply unwilling to accept it due to his pride.

"I did not entrust her to you so that you can destroy her youth," Izuna finally replied with calmness. "I'll only say this once." He smiled casually and continued, "If I ever see things getting out of hand, I will send her away. You will suffer."

That vow caused Madara's self-restraint to snap, if nothing else did. The change was tangible, even if not visible to the naked eye.

"So," light, cool voice, "I see." Madara came forward, stopping right before him. "She succeeded in turning you against me, did she?" he asked, cruel voice cold. "Accomplished what she had been attempting earlier, had she?"

Madara slanted his head to one side, wetting a corner of his dark lips with his tongue. "How did she do it?" he wanted to know, voice quiet. "How did she convince you that everything you said is true?"

If not for the severity of the situation, Izuna would have toyed a bit with this possessor of bottomless jealousy. Instead, he chose to clarify everything.

"It was an illusion, Madara. The real snake wasn't there when I arrived. No, whoever was behind it knew that the plan had been foiled the moment the real snake had been discovered by her. Don't you think it's curious? They could have left out the genjutsu, made it seem like she was only imagining things. Why do you think they took the risk of leaving a trace, in order to make her believe otherwise?"

Uchiha Madara was silent, his red eyes darkening.

"As I've deduced," Izuna stated the obvious, "their purpose was not to murder her. Or you." He raised an eyebrow. "But there are bound to be ones within the clan who disapprove of your...marriage to someone not of the bloodline."

Madara's posture had gone rigid. A silent, devastating fury.

"Hn. Leave it to me, I shall find the culprit before the night is over. However, for that purpose I let her believe it was you behind the genjutsu." Izuna shrugged one shoulder helplessly. "You best go after her, Madara."

He didn't need to say it a second time.

Madara spun and slammed the heavy double doors open on his way out.

* * *

The sun was starting to descend, basking the land in hues of orange and gold. Shadows lengthened and webbed across fields. He had no trouble locating her, however. She was kneeling before the base of a tree shredding red and gold leaves, leaning her head against the bark.

At first he thought she had fallen asleep, as she was still. Then he saw her shoulders convulse in a shudder. So she was crying.

Madara gripped his arms, which were crossed before him.

Ah, so was _he_ to blame for disciplining her when she interrupted a meeting by throwing something at him right in front of his men? Madara felt his jaw clench tightly. What kind of reaction had she been _expecting?_

No. That was composing part of his rage, as well. If she had handled such a dangerous situation like that on her own, she sure as hell didn't care what he would do to her in retribution; she was miserable enough to take stakes on her life.

Uchiha Madara was furious. Furious at the fact that she hadn't said anything while he was punishing her. Furious at the fact that he hadn't given her _a chance to_. No matter how she'd been mistreated before this, she had sealed her lips and had never tried to tell a single soul. It was clear to him then that this time had been different, and that there was no way a few of his pathetic pranks would have cause her enough distress to discard all reason. Still, he could not condone the disrespect she had done him. It was an insult, and a _public one_, one that she should be thankful that he had let her off so easily.

But it did not change the fact that he had used such force against one who had been powerless and at his mercy.

It wasn't until he had seen her tear-stained face did he realize how much he had hurt her. Madara had been serious when he said that women's tears disgusted him. From his experience, when a woman cried, she expected a man to immediately comprehend what he had done wrong from her babbled words and to apologize profusely and without delay.

If his delicate wife had cried, Madara wouldn't be surprised if he dropped her at once, albeit an act of repulsion rather than anything else. But her tears were silent ones. _How_ he had managed to miss that was beyond him. She was a perfect doll in all her expressions. Never had he seen an ugly emotion contort her face. When she raged, it was a gentle frown and a purse of her lips. When she grieved, the tears simply poured forth.

Madara gritted his teeth at the reminder.

He had even _seen _her cry on two separate occasions before this, both times induced by him. _Why _had he not expected her to be shedding those silent tears while remaining stubborn at the same time?

Madara stepped on a dry leaf on the ground, intending to draw her attention to him first.

She stiffened, unmoving. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the delicate female stood up shakily to face him.

So it was true. Madara stared back impassively. At the sight of her crumpled form, her tears, he had wanted to _soothe_ her. In fact, the diminutive amount of disgust he had felt then was for _himself,_ cursing himself for this _weakness._

He would have stopped hurting her sooner if he had known. But no matter how much remorse a man like him could feel afterwards, as when he gently picked her up from the floor, he could not reveal it, or else the lesson would lose its intended effect.

Her eyes were weary, and her lower lip swelling under the teeth marks. Nonetheless, she spoke to him in a quiet but level voice.

"…What more do you have to say, Madara-sama?" she asked him lightly. "I got your point."

She had folded her arms neatly before her chest. He saw that her knuckles turned white.

"I apologize, Madara-sama." She bowed her head slightly and he could tell that it was requiring a tremendous amount of effort for her to say this. "You don't need to forgive me. My behavior was inexcusable. I am sorry."

Uchiha Madara whipped away from her. He paced a few steps, and then turned back.

So easily she swallowed her pride in favor of viewing things sensibly. It irked him. Had it not been for that, he wouldn't have to experience this dull ache ebbing inside him. She hadn't known it wasn't him who had threatened her with a genjutsu. Madara hadn't planned on telling her. To tell her would be letting her know that he had abused his strength against her without even inquiring into the reason for her behavior. But here she was apologizing for her actions _despite_ believing that he had initiated everything, and Madara was finding out that it _did. not. _please him at all.

"I see," Madara sneered, his words coming out more bitter than he would've liked. "Was it the beating that did the trick?" That wasn't what he wanted to say. Madara clenched his jaw. His _damn _pride did not allow for any other way. "So you've finally decided to become submissive, is that it?" he asked her with his customary arrogance.

…

"…I've felt worse, Madara-sama," she replied with a small mirthless smile, revealing to him that her current repentant attitude was not because he had broken her spirit. "If you wish to impress me, you should get a whip."

The silent fury which must've shown on his face, she misinterpreted it.

"…Does it matter anymore, Madara-sama?" she asked tiredly. "I admit I was wrong in overreacting. I hadn't even paused to give Madara-sama the benefit of the doubt. It won't happen again, so-"

"_Who!"_ the Uchiha clan's leader demanded to know, gripping her arm with bruising force, unwittingly. "Who beat you!"

At his sudden outburst, she looked like she was about to faint, her eyelashes fluttering rapidly. It wasn't until a long moment later that his words and their meaning finally sank in.

"…Madara-sama…" light, wry smile "…you're saying that you're the only one who is permitted to have ever punished me?"

He gritted his teeth, not realizing that his grip tightened around her arm until she winced and a spark of fear invaded her blank eyes. Madara let go abruptly, causing her to stagger. He refolded his arms, taking a few steps away.

"The one who cast that illusion inside your room," Madara finally said in response. He turned, arrogance masking his distaste at feeling the urge to justify himself. He arched his long, thin eyebrows, one red eye curtained by his hair. "It wasn't me."

"Un."

He looked to her sharply. It was clear that she didn't believe him.

Madara made a sound of disgust low in his throat, but before he could speak, she forestalled him calmly.

"So what is it, Madara-sama…?" she asked lightly. "You want an excuse to segregate me from the women, as well? You want me to believe that my life endangered so that I would have no choice but to agree to return to your quarters?"

He felt his eyes widen and then narrow warningly.

"Let me guess," she continued, voice light and serene, "you want to tell me that you hadn't known about this snake incident until Izuna informed you. Ah, but that's not what Izuna-sama has led me to believe earlier. Or perhaps Madara-sama telling me not to get near Izuna as well?"

…

He was angry. The bitterest anger he had ever known. Though he wasn't quite clear who that anger was directed to.

She was smiling. A faint, heartless smile. It wasn't until then, when the two fresh tears rolled down each side of her face, did Madara realize the extent of her suffering.

Just because this woman was extremely patient at hiding her emotions, didn't mean that she was any better at dealing with them than anyone else. He had never cared if she was lonely, an outsider to the clan, as long as she was behaved. He had never given thought to how harshly he'd treated her in the past, only expected her to get over it. He had not given thought to what fear she must've felt when her life had been threatened. All he had cared about was his damn pride when she finally snapped in her moment of weakness and lashed out at him, the source of her suffering. And he hurt her for it.

Uchiha Madara had never known himself so low a man that he only cared about keeping up his reputation.

And now, she would not even allow him a chance to apologize properly.

"What will make you feel better?" Madara asked quietly, leaning forward and lifting her chin up, searching her face. "You can hit me," he told her softly. "I allow you to hit me. Hit me as much as you want."

A look of genuine confusion brushed over her delicate features.

After a long moment, she spoke with a soft smile. "…You don't need to feel guilty, Madara-sama. When I said to you that day, that I would accept any punishment on mine and Yuzuzu-hime's behalf, I had been prepared to endure everything in silence. It was I who had stepped out of line first."

It hit him. The reason why she had never spoken a word to anyone on all the mistreatment she'd received. Not because she feared getting found out. Not because she didn't hate him enough to taint him in any way possible. She was honoring her word—no, she was taking it all as punishment onto herself. He had overlooked that, too. He had overlooked the fact that she had been holding it all in for _his_ sake, if only because she was repenting for her offenses.

"Damn it, woman," Madara bit out through clenched teeth, dark lips drawn back into a snarl. "You will not believe me?"

A hesitation. Slowly and unsurely, she answered. "…Even so…I was the one to-"

A shrill screech interrupted. Mishura crashed into the drying branches overhead, flapping her great wings a few times to regain balance. The falcon's sharp dark eyes glared down at the woman, then cocked its head at Madara. A small lizard struggled to get free from under her talons.

"I don't need those anymore," Madara informed his falcon with a snide frown.

Mishura's chest feathers ruffled and she let out a sound which would be a hiss in falcon terms. In a flash, she flew off, but not before dropping—intentionally or not—her catch right on top of the young woman's hair.

Madara watched, stunned, as she gasped and shook her head, causing the small reptile ended up falling into the high open collar of her shirt.

She closed her eyes briefly. Then she yanked the shirt over her head in one smooth motion and slapped it across his face with as much strength as she could possibly muster.

For a second Madara was too stunned to react. Then he growled menacingly, grabbing the fabric from her and smashing it down on the earth.

"Ah, forgive me," she said, surprisingly calm and only wearing her bindings across her chest. "I shall take heed not to follow Madara-sama's advice when he tells me to hit him next time."

"Where do you think you're going?"

"…To change."

"Stop right there," he snarled.

…She glanced back. So, it appeared that she was still grudging him for all else, even if not for that one incident in question. It did seem like that she had recovered enough to replace her mask.

"…Madara-sama," she inquired tonelessly, "even if I believe you, is it too much to allow me to keep thinking otherwise?"

Dark frown. Madara demanded sharply, "Speak clearly, woman!"

…

"…What is it that you want from me, Madara-sama?" she asked at last. "…I've already said that I would accept any punishment. But, please…"

A small, wry smile.

"…don't request for my heart."

* * *

…

Why was he still here?

Madara ignored the passing women who dared not heed his presence. He had been pacing for quite a while, and each time he spun around when he reached the end of his path they would startle, but Madara did not notice.

Her heart?

Madara felt a scoff each time his thoughts traced back to that. Except each time he did, he also experienced an overwhelming urge to smash down the wall next to which he paced.

Impossible.

His red eyes slimmed.

The only explanation for his murderous rage was that he was livid at her _defiance_, not at the implication of her words.

_SLAM._

A few gasps ran out. "How long does it take for her to change!" Madara's commanding voice rose nearly to a shout. The few women who were unfortunate to be caught by this murmured apologetically, claiming that they would go check on their mistress straight away.

He hadn't been able to formulate a satisfactory response at the time. He would need to speak to her again to put her in her place.

"Ma-Madara-sama," a returning woman of the clan stammered in horror. Madara took one look at her before brushing past her to head down the corridor.

The window was open, the drapes gently rippling with the breeze. He understood why she had chosen a room facing the outside.

"_FIND HER!"_

* * *

**...**

**A/N: **Well, I somehow **cannot **exaggerate this enough; this is not a _fairytale _romance where it's all fluff and _every_ _single thing_ will get resolved. Cough. But don't be discouraged yet; next chapter is still going to be really _really_ sexy xD

And maybe, just maybe, Madara will come to terms with his feelings next chapter.

...I am trying to draw, really. Just need to…regain my groove ._.


	15. War of the Petals IV

**A/N:** You're welcome, I love it when readers ask me questions or hint suggestions at me xD Also, thank you very much for reviewing :3

In answer to a reader's observation: from what I can see _so far,_ Madara's clansmen seem to leave his personal business to himself. As for Loreli's outburst, it seems from the men's reactions (after she went outside) that the majority of them already suspected something along these lines, and, if anything, most of them are rather against her disrespectful behavior instead of sympathizing with her. After all…she keeps interrupting their meetings XD (not that Madara doesn't hold meetings 24 hours a day already).

Oh, the medic guy, you don't need to worry about that… I'm not through with him yet ^^

* * *

**Till You Die**

14 – _War of the Petals IV_

* * *

It had been a while since the last time her arm had started to bother her. She was quite surprised to feel it, actually, as the injury was supposed to have healed completely ages ago. Perhaps there was truth in the saying that the memory of a harsh fall was embedded in a person's bones.

Then again, if it weren't for the strain that merciless man had placed on her arms by twisting them behind her back at an unnatural angle and for an agonizing stretch of time, maybe…just maybe…she wouldn't have to be reminded of that gruesome incident.

…Oh…come to think of it…she _had _slapped her shirt onto him with all the force her aching arms could have possibility mustered, too. That…

She _really_ didn't care to face his wrath once he came to his senses.

_Crack._

For the fourth time Loreli stepped over a thorny twig and felt her heart split in two, lodging in her ears. She froze, before stealing a wary glance over her shoulder.

…Only a handful of fireflies wandered about aimlessly in the pale light of dusk.

…

Really…if she was going to choke herself by being this paranoid, why did she decide to escape in the first place? …Or…'escaped' wasn't quite the right word. Unless there was a little backdoor hidden somewhere—one she hadn't been fortunate enough to come across yet—she had no way past those walls.

…But it wasn't like she could quietly return to her routine as if nothing was wrong. No… She couldn't…she hadn't dared to meet the eyes of the Uchiha women who had stared, aghast, at the sight of her bleeding lips and at her bruised arms, all of which were exposed to view while she was without a shirt to cover them up. Whatever their expressions had been, Loreli had no desire to see them, and especially if they had been anything like the men's. She had feared it may add on that last straw.

Ah, this place…

Loreli tensed, emitting an ill-suppressed shudder at the early evening chill. She breathed in.

…_is suffocating._

Her gaze trailed over the outline of the stronghold walls. It wasn't her intention to find a way past them, though she couldn't deny that she would try if an opportunity presented itself. She knew the wilderness beyond those walls was a harsh and unforgiving place; a land with sparse vegetation and with several weeks' worth of travelling from one civilization to the next.

…What was she to do, now?

"Looks like…" she breathed out as a whisper "…I still wasn't able to escape the fate you feared for me. Okasan..."

A tickling sensation crept up her arms. Loreli glanced back at the dark settling over the field. She hadn't been able to shake off the suspicion that she was being followed. But it was absurd. Anyone who would be after her wouldn't have to be stealthy about it. Their leader must be absolutely livid by now. However…she was finding it hard to believe that she had been able to escape supervision by her two guards so easily.

Loreli let out a steady breath through her teeth. Well, there was a quick way to ascertain something for herself.

Dark was settling as she waded into the long, coarse grass of the open field. The dry grass crackled underfoot, and she paused, straining to hear any sounds from the direction of the buildings in the distance. None. The Uchiha stronghold was large, after all. It wouldn't be that easy to find her.

Again she moved forward. Then she paused, abruptly, glancing down before her feet.

She pursed her lips together. And screamed.

All at once a shadow flashed before her, bringing a rush of wind with it.

"My lady—"

The man-shadow—a shinobi with midnight-black hair tied up in a high ponytail—stopped short upon witnessing the deadpan expression on her face.

…

He straightened, keen red eyes never straying from her. His mouth thinned.

He cursed.

* * *

There was a scent.

A strong scent. It pricked her nostrils and rubbed at the back of her throat, but she couldn't put a name to it or categorize it with anything else. Something like…warm air.

Ironic, how she ended up back here, where she started.

…

Raising an eyebrow, Izuna glanced from her to the man behind her.

Mishura fanned her great wings agitatedly at the sight of her, undoubtedly wanting to fly back and report this to her master. Izuna had to steady the falcon on his arm. He slipped out an amused grin, saying without a second glance at Uchiha Murata, "So, she exposed you, huh?"

Sharp beak parted in malice, the falcon tugged against the strap around its talon and then caught Izuna's ear in an angry bite. At least she wasn't the only person who Mishura seemed to hate.

…

Smoothly, Loreli spoke up. "Why…have you kept it from me, Izuna-sama? That someone is targeting me."

…Izuna rubbed at his assaulted ear. He knew he'd be found out. If the Uchiha clan's second-in-command hadn't suspected her to be in danger, he wouldn't have assigned her a new guard—a shinobi who's reputed to be one of the clan's most highly skilled ninjutsu users.

"Hn," Izuna let out in resignation, folding his arms. "My lady, surely you've taken note of how empty the halls were? Madara has set the entire center complex searching for you. I daresay it'd be easier on you if you just turn yourself in."

A light frown. Loreli fixed him with an unappreciative stare.

"The reason why I didn't pursue this any further earlier," Izuna explained unhurriedly, casually making his way to the high shelf, "is because there was a chance that the culprit would return if enough of an opening was provided." He glanced back, arching a smooth eyebrow at her. "I believe, my lady, the uproar you have caused for the women's quarters provided enough of a distraction to achieve that."

Mishura, perched on Izuna's arm and restrained by the reins he was holding, glared back menacingly in response to the solemn expression in her eyes.

…He just claimed that he had used her as bait. What sort of expression had he been expecting?

The mute hostility did not escape him.

"Come here," Izuna beckoned her, handing Mishura's reins over to Murata. He held out a small glass jar out to her. "Do you think you will be able pick out this scent the next time it nears you?"

A hesitation. Reluctantly, she went forward and inhaled as he bid. She blinked, gazing down at the clear liquid, trying to figure out what the scent was.

"You don't want to inhale too much of it," Izuna informed her, withdrawing the jar. "It's an oil our clan when attempting to master inner peace. It has properties which can allow a user to enter a deeper state of calm, or, for the inexperienced, it will backfire and intensify any emotion the user is experiencing in a most alarming way."

Loreli stepped back, rubbing at her throat, wondering where he was going with all this.

"I had someone place a jar above your door, and another above the window, before this area was abandoned on Madara's orders to find you."

She watched as Izuna went to the door. He stared thoughtfully down at the few droplets darkening the floor at the base of the doorframe.

"Did you know, my lady…? It is instinctual for a person to dodge a falling object, but it is reflexive for a ninja to reach out and catch whatever it is that they've knocked over upon trespassing into someone else's territory. Whoever came in…is a ninja."

"But it's a great risk to take, entering the room while recognizing the scent coming from it. After all, there are ways to tell if a person is feeling extreme guilt and anxiety."

Izuna arched an eyebrow at Murata. "Your sensory techniques range further than most. Are positive no one else followed her?"

A curt nod answered him.

Izuna rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "If there is only one culprit involved, then this will be easy. It would have to be someone who is skilled enough in genjutsu to be able to cast one within that short time you had been fetching that trunk, but that someone, despite possessing that skill level, hasn't had the chance to attempt chakra mastery." A wry smile. "You see, my lady, none of the female ninjas in our clan have advanced far enough in ninja arts to be able to familiarize with this scent. The culprit is a woman."

Her eyes were fixed on his shoulder instead of meeting his eyes, but Loreli had been listening intently. "You…" her quiet voice stalled him from saying anything more. "You were so sure that the culprit would return here that you had deliberately set everything up like this?"

Izuna paused, detecting the hint of an accusation in her voice.

"I noticed it earlier, my lady," he said carefully, heading over to the shards of porcelain had been purposefully left untouched on the floor where the vase had shattered.

Izuna reached down and picked up a sharp shard. He told her, "If you piece every shard of this vase back together, you will find some parts missing."

She blinked once, in disbelief.

…What…?

"The natural conclusion to draw is this; whoever it was, he or she had accidentally cut themselves on one or more shards in their haste to subdue the real serpent. Anyone who is cautious enough would want to return to remove the evidence. Or to at least finish the job before they are caught."

Turning, Izuna mused out loud to the Uchiha shinobi under his command. "I had thought this would take a little longer, but it seems we got lucky. How many on that list are female, have gone through ninja training, have expertise in genjutsu, and have possibly one or more cuts on her hands?"

Uchiha Murata inclined his head forward in acknowledgement. "Understood, Izuna-sama."

And then they were alone. Mishura's screeching pierced the halls with their departure, but Loreli had no heart to worry about that at the moment.

…

Silently, Loreli took a few steps away from him and stood still.

…It was impossible, wasn't it? To be able to perceive that pieces were missing from the ensemble with just a glance.

…What…kind of people was she living among?

"I see..." Her unreadable eyes sought back at him. "Somehow…I am only regarded as a pawn to be moved around when it is convenient."

A brief silence.

"Will you grudge me, my lady?" Izuna asked, leaning back on her desk. He studied her with his dark, observant gaze. "For your protection, it is of utmost importance that we find the culprit as soon as possible. You understand my reasons for following along a part of the culprit's plan."

Her eyes appraised him levelly, but she did not speak.

For her protection. Of course. As long as he could justify the outcome, what did it matter that he'd have to put her through all the pain, all the hurt and the turmoil, while she was powerless and ignorant in his schemes?

…Loreli wrapped her arms around herself.

…

Understand…? Yes, she understood perfectly.

…She was no less a mere object, a possession, to him than she was to his brother, Madara. Aha… but, that in itself did not bother her. The fact that she was expected to behave like some emotionless doll that will switch loyalties to each new owner, however…_ That_…

The only loyalty she has was to Yuzuzu-hime, to whom she had sworn her blood, her devotion, her _very life._ So help her… She…didn't know what she might do.

Her hand found its way up to her throat. It was warm, too warm for some reason. Had she been affected by inhaling the scent of the oil he showed her?

Izuna craned his neck to one side, running a hand through his ebony spikes. She was starting to perceive that as a slightly nervous gesture. "I don't question your anger at the result my miscalculation has made, my lady. I will accept all the blame." Izuna hiked an eyebrow in askance. "But you don't think you've made him suffer enough for his part? Madara…must be anxious." A rather mischievous grin played on his lips. "He isn't aware that I had someone following you to ensure your protection."

Loreli said nothing, only glanced at the darkness outside the window and wondered how long it would be before she was discovered.

"Are you not being a bit harsh on him?" Izuna asked with a pleasant grin. "From what I hear, you barged in during a meeting and immediately hurled insults at him without confirming anything first, despite knowing that Madara has never raised a hand against you unjustly ever since he made you his wife. Will my lady not overlook it this once?"

She didn't suppose Izuna would leave her much of a choice in the matter.

After a long silence, she spoke.

"…There's no need to send for him." Calmly. "I intend for him to find me."

Both Izuna's eyebrows went up at her bold statement.

Loreli returned his gaze unblinking. "…I wonder, though… What does Izuna-sama see when he looks at me…?"

"…A pretty woman?" she guessed, voice light and inquisitive. "…An…intelligent and strong-willed woman? …A…sweet-tempered and forgiving woman?"

Loreli offered him a small, mirthless smile.

"I'm afraid such a perfect woman…" she told him. "…Does not exist."

* * *

…

Letting out an unsteady breath, she glanced around the entrance hall and caught several of the women looking at her anxiously. Loreli managed a weak smile for them, and then cleared her throat, frowning at the disquieting burn still there.

She took her eyes away from the would-be spectators, noting again how high the pillars were at either side of the entrance to the center complex. She remembered the first day she had been brought here, past these pillars. Back then she hadn't known that she would be here for this long.

Possibly till her death.

Aha…

She tilted her head up, staring distractedly up at the high ceiling.

Perhaps she _was_ insane, or was slowly losing her mind. She didn't know what was wrong with her. This…

…was the darkest desire she'd ever known.

A slam.

Loud footsteps.

Loreli allowed her heavy eyelids to close for a brief moment.

Their leader, Uchiha Madara, has returned.

She spoke even before she opened her eyes to make sure he was within earshot.

"Madara-sama…you were looking for me?"

Long spiked hair slightly disheveled, rising and falling with his shoulders, Uchiha Madara should have made an image which struck fear. His red Sharingan were ablaze, jaw taut and black-clad posture stiff. Curtly, Madara gestured a dismissal to the handful of shinobi who had came in with him. Then his narrowed eyes snapped back on her.

"Where," the tall, ebony-haired shinobi started to say, smoothly, between sound breaths. But it quickly morphed into a grating tone of voice which matched his rage, _"The hell have you been all this time!?"_

"…Forgive me, Madara-sama. It was not my intention to have you worried." A light smile. "Did you search long, Madara-sama?"

His height could easily overwhelm her. Indeed, Madara's shadow fell over her when he stepped forward, long ebony bangs completely concealing one of his cold red eyes, a silent warning for her to cease her act.

Madara gave an impatient twitch of his head, long eyebrows rising snidely. "_My dear,_ I believe I asked you a question."

"…I don't understand, Madara-sama." Loreli blinked twice. "I was here the entire time."

Suddenly, she found his hand around her throat, drawing her closer to him, to the tip of her toes.

"Ah," Madara commented lightly, "you don't seem to grasp the situation." His thumb brushed against her throat. Softly, he reminded her with his smooth, arrogant voice, "Did I not inform you that-"

She interrupted him, raising a finger to her lips and smiling gently. "Careful, Madara-sama. There are others here with us."

The grip on her throat tightened. Madara's ominous red eyes slimmed down at her. Then, he relaxed, slanting an arrogant gaze down at her before leaning down to say next to her ear, "Foolish, very foolish." A sinister warning, "Entreat for my forgiveness, and I may yet overlook everything."

"…But why, Madara-sama?" she asked lightly. "It was my mistake falling asleep in the bath, but I had not known that Madara-sama would be waiting for me."

He tensed. She sensed the change.

Slowly, agonizing slow, Madara straightened, his cold eyes never leaving her.

"…I did not say that I won't, Madara-sama," Loreli said. "But it…would be a strange reason to beg forgiveness for, to the others, wouldn't it?"

His silent fury, she was familiar with by then. Even if she gave in to his intimidation at this point, there was no turning back.

…So hurry up and destroy her completely.

…

Loreli gazed up through her lashes at his sharp, handsome features, the lines harsh and taut with restrained fury. And she smiled. "I'm afraid I was so immersed in my sleep that I had not heard anything, nor had I realized what an uproar I've created until I woke up half an hour ago. Perhaps Madara-sama should have checked in all the rooms before assuming anything."

She was flung back to the marble floor, sliding up against the base of a high pillar. Her entire backside flamed, and the burning sensation travelled up her spine.

It was a contemptuous glare Madara wore when he snarled down at her. "You _lying bitch," _he sneered. "I will give you one last chance."

Loreli closed her eyes briefly. She didn't meet his eyes again when she reopened them.

"…Madara-sama," she said, solemnly this time. "…Is it so embarrassing to admit that you had made a mistake in front of your clan?"

She did not look to see his expression. She knew how he would react.

Uchiha Madara spun furiously to his clansmen and ordered sharply, _"Bring me a whip!"_

Several gasps ran out among the females in the crowd. Loreli didn't hear them. The blood was roaring in her ears.

…

A small laugh. She didn't realize that she was even doing it until he had gone silent, still and silent, watching her as she used the pillar as support to rise to her knees.

"There is no need to punish me, Madara-sama."

She did not care if everyone's eyes were on her. At that point it was only him. Loreli raised her eyes but could not seem to bring herself to meet his.

With a soft wistful smile, she spoke. "I hope…Madara-sama realizes that he is the one who exposed the truth first. So please consider my debt repaid."

Having said that, Loreli slipped out the blade from within her sleeve.

Screams rang out. Almost instantly she found herself flat on her back, mind struggling to keep up with the speed of events.

"…_What the hell do you think you're doing?"_

Uchiha Madara, directly above her.

Loreli attempted to move her arms, but found that he had laced his fingers with hers, pressing her hands down to either side of her head. He had disarmed her. She cursed herself inwardly for thinking that she might've been able to cheat his inhuman speed by catching him off-guard.

And now she had to face his wrath.

The black-clad shinobi was absolutely livid, his teeth gritted and his dark lips drawn back into a snarl. _"Answer me!"_

…

For a long moment she simply stared back up at him, at his long spiked hair sliding down, at his normally arrogant eyes, wide and flashing crimson.

"…I asked Madara-sama if is so embarrassing to admit that he had made a mistake in front of his clan," Loreli said at last. "…Did I…not try to rectify my impulsive mistake from earlier, Madara-sama?"

She could tell he saw it then. The way her blatant lie was meant to offer a cover for her disappearance. The way she inquired if he would give up a bit of his pride to keep up the pretense.

But no… It seemed like…she was the only one who had to sacrifice her freedom, her pride, her dignity—everything—in this fragile arrangement. For as long as he would keep her.

"…Madara-sama," Loreli said quietly, tonelessly. "Do I not even have the right to determine my own fate when faced with an imminent doom?"

His jaw clenched. His fingers tightened painfully against hers.

Without warning, she was yanked up by the front her dress, pulled to a stand before him. His hands grasped her arms, keeping her in place.

"Not that easily," Madara's low, smooth voice told her beside her ear. "I have already warned you once." Scathingly. "You will pay _the price."_

Her heart plunged inside her chest.

She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Only when she felt his arm encircle her waist to throw her over his shoulder did she snap back to reality.

A scream ripped from her throat. She screamed, kicking and hitting his back, and dreading a fate worse than death. Oh, she screamed. Loreli couldn't remember any point in her life when she had screamed this much. But none of that mattered then. It didn't matter how many people were witnessing this ugly scene as he carried her, with her tears pouring and limbs struggling, through the halls. There was no need for further pretense. She could scream as much as she wanted.

She screamed for the pain, for the fear, for someone to help her. She screamed for all of those and didn't know what she was screaming.

Suddenly, she was being flung down. Her back hit something cushioned and she realized that he had taken her to his dark-lit room, had tossed her onto the bed, and was now hovering above her with his dark, overbearing presence.

She trembled at the sight of the harsh thinning of his lips, at the sight of his cold and arrogant eyes. Her breath hitched, another scream barely contained.

"Go ahead," his smooth sinister voice told her, long eyebrows arching with his suggestion. "Scream as much as you want." Madara gritted his teeth, snarling, "You will _wish _you were dead before I'm through with you."

Loreli inhaled small rapid breaths. She couldn't seem to get enough air. Her fingers clawed the sheets beneath her. Oh god. Please. Oh god.

Madara reached forward, fisting the front of her dress, bringing himself closer, so close, so sinister. His red eyes were veiled, smooth voice promising her, "No one will come save you even if you scream."

But scream she did. The moment his other hand reached for her a scream tore itself from her throat.

"Izuna!" she cried, twisting away as best as she could. "Izuna!"

He tensed. Strong fingers grasped her jaw, forcing her to look into his murderous red eyes.

"So you purposefully set it up like this?" Madara's quiet, sinister voice demanded of her.

"…How dare you."

She had no idea what he meant. All she knew was that he was deadly then. The sheer amount of malice flowing off him was suffocating.

"_How dare you."_ Harsher this time, voice laced with venom. Madara could not have looked less intimidating.

She gasped as he reached for the chain of the sapphire necklace she still wore around her neck. A sharp pain as it snapped. Her mind spun with the sudden movement it caused her.

…That was it…that was the last strand of resolve she had in her. As Loreli shut her eyes in an attempt to steady the spinning, darkness beckoned her in.

She succumbed into the black oblivion which welcomed her.

* * *

…At that time…she had been too young to understand……the gentle, bittersweet smile on the woman's pale lips…the red staining down her dress…and the quiet words spoken in a near-hush to her…

'_Don't be afraid…my daughter.'_

* * *

She supposed she had been lying awake for quite a while. She had no way of knowing, though. The first thing she became aware of was that she was staring up at the ceiling. But she didn't try to move, didn't want to close her eyes.

…If she closed her eyes, she could almost see the pained, regretful visage of her mother at her side.

…

Then, slowly at first, the aching burn on her back came back. Also, there was a more stinging pain on the back of her neck.

She remembered.

Heart beating heavily all at once, Loreli sat up shakily.

Izuna was sitting in a chair, by the bed, his arms folded and one long leg crossed over the other. Silent.

Loreli stared back wordlessly at his solemn composure. It was too quiet, too eerie. She wouldn't be surprised if it was a dream she was experiencing, or…

"When the snow melts and the villages are more hospitable." That was the first thing the white-shirted man said, his voice calm but serious.

She blinked, not understanding.

"How about it?" Izuna asked her. "I will take you away in spring."

Loreli held his eyes for a while longer, but did not reply. She did not believe him. Instead, she reached to feel the back of her neck to check if the skin had been broken by the clasp from the necklace.

Her fingertips came away red.

Izuna stood up.

"I regret needing to ask this, but will my lady assist me with something by showing up in the dining hall regardless?"

"I'll go," she replied. Almost too immediate a reply. Loreli coughed, the dryness of her throat causing the itch. She repeated, "I will go."

…Izuna stared at her for what might've been a long, apprehensive moment. But he didn't comment.

"Then, my lady, I will have Murata escort you there when you are ready."

The door shut gently behind him.

…

Loreli rose to her feet slowly, casting a glance around the dark room.

…Why was it, after all that time…she had still feared not knowing what to expect from him?

There was no other explanation. She, who had not been afraid to give her life for her young mistress…when had she become like this? No… She had simply been too disconcerted, too emotionally vulnerable and burdened by doubts.

…But that…was over, wasn't it? She should thank him for having revealed his darkest side to her. Now…

She no longer had an excuse to expect anything else.

* * *

Hushed, the halls were. The clansmen present were so subdued that even a clattering of chopsticks was embarrassing. That was understandable, as their leader, Uchiha Madara, had never exhibited such raw inhibited emotion right in front of everyone before this.

Madara himself could not recall any past incidence in which he lost composure completely, not even in the intense heat of battle.

Because no one, not even the toughest of adversaries, had been given the chance to test his patience that much.

"It may be that she was the one who invoked it," Izuna observed, "but I would've thought that you knew better by now, _Madara."_

The leader of the Uchiha clan glanced over at his second-in-command, arching a snide eyebrow. Curtly, he replied, "You've said enough."

Izuna was right. He should have known that no threat or intimidation would've solved anything. It had never worked on her before, so _why _had he not stopped himself then?

But he had been so livid. First at the prospect of the utterly defenseless woman wandering about by herself while there was someone targeting her life. Then at the blithe way she refused to acknowledge his warning when she offered up her lies. _That bitch—! _She had _meant _for him to take it the wrong way. There was no way she could deny that was what she had been aiming for, with that mocking tone and deceitful smile.

Even so, that rage was nothing in comparison to what he had felt when he saw her bring a knife to herself. Even more than what he had felt when she had screamed Izuna's name, and only then had he been reminded of his brother's solemn vow to send her away if things got out of hand. But things were irreversible already by then. She-…

Bitter. That had left an extremely bitter aftertaste. Had he been _so_ _despicable _towards her that she had felt justified to _attempt at her own life?_

"You were that afraid of losing her?" Izuna inquired, propping an arm up on the table before him and leaning his head into it. He received no answer. "Hn. But, I don't intend to go back on my word, Madara. What will you do?"

His nails dug into his folded arms, but Madara restrained himself. He was too easily incited when it came to her, and Madara was disgusted at himself, at this constant state of aggravation because of one damn woman.

"You won't mind if I carry through on my promise, then?" Izuna relaxed his expression into a knowing grin. "I can't just stand around and watch you thrust her deeper and deeper into despair each time you fly into one of your rages, can I?"

Madara snapped his gaze to Izuna. He quirked a mocking brow, gritting out bitterly, "And what do you propose I do?"

"Hn." Izuna let out a small, triumphant smirk. "Since it has already come down to this, there is only one thing you can do, isn't there?"

The muscles in Madara's jaw tightened painfully.

"Perhaps it's time to clear up the misunderstanding and to relinquish your claim on her, dear brother mine."

Izuna rubbed his temples, continuing despite the heightening tension.

"From the beginning, this little façade was too much burden to expect her to shoulder." Izuna raised an eyebrow and shrugged, purposefully choosing his next words. "If she had felt even an ounce of affection towards you, it might've made a difference. I'm surprised she has carried it this far."

Ah, yes, Madara thought darkly to himself, carefully keeping his expression neutral in front of Izuna. Izuna didn't even know that, if not for her vow to accept any punishment in place of the princess, she would not have let him touch her at all.

"My question is simple, Madara," Izuna added in the silence which followed. "How far are you willing to go to convince her to stay with you?"

Red eyes narrowed ominously, incredulously. _"What?"_

"Ah," Izuna forestalled, smiling. "There she is."

Madara felt himself tensed involuntarily, before glancing over in the direction Izuna was looking.

…Puffy red eyes, pale pallor and the miserable set of her broken lips, he had expected.

None of which were present on her face.

She spotted them at the head table and blinked her dark-lashed eyes. Without being beckoned, the young woman came to them, her steps light and gaze steady.

"Izuna-sama," she addressed with a gentle smile. Her soft gaze trailed over to him.

"…Madara-sama." Another small smile. A slightly different meaning.

"Izuna-sama," she said, looking back to Izuna and easily dismissing his presence. "You requested for my being present?"

"My lady," Izuna replied, seemingly amused by her boldness. "I asked you here for a reason." He asked her, "Do you have something to tell the rest of the people who are here?"

Madara's red eyes narrowed forebodingly. He was about to get up, even, but Izuna hiked an eyebrow at him and added to her, "If it will make you feel better, my lady can be the one to offer an explanation for…recent events."

So Izuna meant to do it. He actually meant to do it.

This was nothing his younger brother would joke about. Izuna was serious about pressing for an annulment.

"_Izuna…"_ Madara gritted out his warning.

Silence ensued.

Her steady gaze rested on him, her eyes blank and unreadable. Her lips parted as if to speak. But she hesitated.

_Slam._

Madara had gotten up, drawing all eyes onto him.

"Ah," he said smoothly, gazing over at the young woman whose eyes flickered to him. "This woman," Madara declared coolly, arrogantly, "is my unwilling wife."

"I took her by force," Madara continued, speaking to all who were present but with his eyes on her alone. "No-…she was given to me. An exchange for a pardon. Her life for the fate of an entire feudal land."

He circled behind her, cold eyes on the back of her neck. "Her life is rightfully mine. But sometimes…" Madara gripped her chin, turning her head to look up at him. "She forgets."

"I sure have spoiled her," Madara mused down at her blank expression, arching long, arrogant brows. "Instead of taking her life, I have made her my woman, with the proper title and influence which goes along with it. Ah, but she will stubbornly cling to the ties of her past." He drew himself closer, maliciously, speaking with a cruel edge to his words. "No, she can't seem to accept the fact that she had been traded for something much more than her worth. There is simply no way she can return to her _precious_ past." Madara arched an eyebrow down at her lack of reaction. He added, "And what, I wonder, does she think her mistress will feel if she finds out what a nervous wreck her beloved servant has become as a result from the trade?"

She was still. For a long time, she was motionless, so still that she might've not even been breathing.

Then, slowly, very gingerly, her lowered gaze lifted up to meet his.

He saw it and felt his hold slacken involuntarily, felt all strength leaving him that moment of realization.

A type of…shattering…

…She smiled.

"Well said," her undaunted voice commented on his speech. "As expected from Madara-sama."

She jerked back when he started to reach for her. It was Izuna—who looked like he was brewing a massive headache—who caught her when she stumbled back, steadying her.

There had been no rancor or accusation in her eyes. She had simply…closed off her heart to him.

"Take a seat, my lady," Izuna's soothing voice suggested.

"No." And she sniffed. Then she giggled softly, though it sounded far from convincing. "If I'm being taken as a child who's throwing a tantrum, I might as well behave like one."

Izuna hiked an eyebrow in disbelief. "My lady?"

"_Leave her,"_ Madara said curtly, returning to his own seat. "If she wants to be the only one standing, let her." Then he addressed to her, arrogantly, "Happy?"

"Go ahead." She sniffed again, hugging herself for comfort. "I'm sure I can get used to looking down on ninjas."

…

…That remark had been so bold, so outrageous; Madara would've gotten up again if not for him being taken off-guard.

"Oh," Izuna said, grinning in amusement. "That may be so, but I've been informed that my lady hasn't taken any meal since this morning. Do sit down with us."

"It hurts," she replied simply.

Uchiha Madara stiffened—the muscles in his neck and arms actually tightened and locked—until he realized she meant that she didn't want to sit down because her backside still pained her.

Izuna asked her, "How about I ask someone to bring a cushion for my lady?"

"No," she declined, and giggled. "I'll just stand here."

At this, Madara's patience finally snapped. "Get her _the hell out of my sight!"_

She looked to him and appeared a bit startled by his sudden outburst. Then, to his utter disbelief, she pursed her lips and sat down, haughty countenance not betraying pain in the least. Nonetheless, she had sniffed as she did that.

He frowned. The frown quickly darkened into a glower as she reached for the wine cup before her and downed it in one gulp.

"My lady," Izuna asked, his good-natured grin still in place, "Have you happened to drink anything while waiting inside Madara's room?"

She looked at him as if he were insane. "My throat was dry."

"I see." A pause. "Here, have more," said Izuna, sliding the pitcher of wine in front of her.

She reached for it, only to have it knocked clear off the table by a much displeased Madara.

"I was going to share," she protested with a small frown and a pout.

It made sense. The faint blush to her cheeks. The way she kept straightening her head as if trying to keep her balance centered.

Arching his long thin eyebrows, Madara told her mockingly, "You are drunk."

Her head tilted slightly to one side, pondering him. Then she giggled as if he said something silly. "No, I am not. Madara-sama will know it when I'm truly drunk."

Having said that, she looked to Izuna expectantly.

"And tell me," Madara said sarcastically, drawing her attention back to him, "How I'm supposed to know when you're behaving out of character?"

She hesitated as if considering this. Then she looked at him with a puzzled expression. "But I'm not asleep yet."

Heeding the warning scowl Madara shot him, Izuna did not attempt to give her more wine. Instead, he placed her chopsticks into her hands and said apologetically, "I'm afraid your husband's word is law here."

…She stared at the pair of chopsticks in her hand as if affronted.

…Following which she repeatedly stabbed into her bowl of rice…with a _vengeance._

Madara felt his eyes slim back at her when she peered up at him defiantly and without pause.

Being seated close to the girl, Izuna picked a stray grain of rice off his sleeve. "Looks like she's got quite a bit of pent-up emotion to work out," he mused.

"But maybe that's going a bit too far," Izuna commented as she leaned over and dumped the remaining contents of her bowl into Madara's cup. She sniffed and replied with a small, wry laugh, "Don't worry, I'll let you know when _'too far' _arrives."

…

For his part, Madara was silent, patiently drumming his fingers against his folded arms. But that wasn't to say that Izuna's apprehensive gaze was uncalled for. Especially when the _scandalous _woman reached for his chopsticks lying neglected on the table before him and snapped them in half.

Ah, Madara simply… Didn't know how to deal with her anymore.

She was too fragile. Too damnably fragile. If he would so much as_ touch her,_ she would shatter like glass. Yet she refused to submit to her fate. Will _never_ submit.

"What's wrong, Madara-sama?" she asked with another sniff. "Won't you lash out at me like always?"

Madara watched her, deadly silent and intent. There was no question about it. This woman was simply waiting…_waiting for someone to destroy her._

"My lady," Izuna interrupted, hiking an eyebrow good-naturedly. "Do you think Madara is normally such a snappish and irritable man?"

She gazed from Izuna to him. She bit her lip.

"He's normally more so than this?" she asked.

"Well," Izuna addressed to him, "The good news is; her impression of you can only get better."

Madara got up to leave. He certainly was in no mood to simply sit here and listen to all the derogatory comments made about him.

Raising an eyebrow, Izuna asked up at him, "Why don't you tell us all why you've chosen to take this woman as your wife even if she were unwilling?"

Madara snapped a sharp glance at him. Preposterous. _Izuna_, of all people, should know how this arrangement came to be. Enraged, Madara practically snarled out, "Because _you—!"_

And stopped short.

"Oh?" Izuna grinned back at his brother's expression. "Then I suppose you will also agree ifI asked you to release her? Perhaps they'll all understand once I explain the whole story. After all, it's not like I mind taking the entire blame on myself."

Madara felt his jaw clench painfully, red eyes narrowing. It was on the tip of his tongue to spit out scathingly, 'Go ahead'. Why couldn't he? Wouldn't he be more than glad to be rid of this nuisance his younger sibling had brought upon him?

The young woman in question looked to Izuna quizzically.

"What do you mean…?" she asked, squeezing a few blinks as if trying to clear her mind.

"My lady," Izuna forestalled Madara's reaction by asking her in amusement, "You have never wondered why Madara gave in to this arrangement without as much as a fight?"

Speechless, Madara returned her gaze as she glanced over at him and sniffed.

"Well he is right; no one will miss me if I'm gone." Another tinkling laugh. "And I was perfect for Izuna-sama's experimentation, wasn't I? Madara-sama can't very well treat a woman of his own clan the way he treats me."

Her giggling faltered upon witnessing the expression on the face of the Uchiha clan's leader.

"Hn," Izuna observed smilingly, "You think me that cruel and manipulative?"

Tearing her eyes off Madara, she gazed to Izuna. A pause. "I've never thought you gentle-natured and laidback as you make yourself to be," she admitted.

One eyebrow rising in surprise, Izuna asked her, "What reason do I have to pretend?"

She smiled, leaning over toward him to say in a whisper which was nonetheless loud enough to hear.

"…Because…_it's the only way to remain at the side of such a man."_

She got no further than that. Madara had grabbed her by the arm and was pulling her roughly to her feet.

"So you hate me that much," Madara observed smoothly. A dark chuckle. He brushed his cool fingers along the side of her face. "My…_dear girl,_" Madara suggested silkily, "Would you like to see how nasty a man like me can truly be?"

She tried to pull free, looking as if she hadn't heard one word he'd just said.

"Um," Izuna started to intervene, but a breaking of plates diverted his attention.

"…Excuse me." Izuna smiled pleasantly, rose to his feet, and left their side.

Which left him with one very distraught woman in front of many pairs of either aghast or expectant eyes.

…

Uchiha Madara cast a curt, dismissive glance to the rest of the people present. "Rest assured," he declared coolly, "Such unsightly behaviour will not happen again." Heh. He would lock her up by herself where she wouldn't be able to cause a scene again, Madara thought murderously.

And he all but _dragged_ the sniffling woman with him out of the great hall. She resisted, but it was more of a token gesture, perhaps knowing even in her current state that she couldn't fight him.

_What the hell was he going to do with her?_ Madara wondered darkly. He had come close, so dangerously close, to snapping again, and right in front of everyone. Ah, but was not what she said the truth? _Why_ he had found her words so perverse, so goddamn offensive, was utterly beyond him. And Izuna—

A jerk on his arm. She had lost her balance and had fallen.

"Let go of me," she pleaded half-heartedly up at his murderous scowl, her free hand bracing her arm below where he held her. "It hurts."

"It hurts," Madara mocked her scathingly, not releasing her. It _hurts? _He hadn't even been gripping her as painfully as he would've _liked._

"Get up!" Madara ordered sharply.

She sniffed. She shook her head. And screamed when he lost his patience and reached to pick her up.

It was a fortunate thing they were far enough away from the great hall by then. Anyone who heard those screams would've thought that their clan mistress was getting murdered. Struggle as she might, she couldn't get out of his hold. Then she gave up on that and started beating her fists against his chest, choking back a cry each time. Not that she could harm him any.

Yet something inside him echoed in response each time she beat against him. Madara's lips tightened into a harsh line, his body becoming rigid. He waited, tense, unwittingly holding her closer and causing her more distress. He couldn't even find it within him to feel anger towards her action.

Soon, just as he had hoped, she realized the futileness of her situation and gave up struggling. Breathing heavily with the exhaustion, she went still, leaning her head against his shoulder and simply letting him carry her.

A suspenseful silence. Madara waited for the tears to come, staining his shirt warm. He waited for the tinkling laugh too, for the scornful remarks about him. Perhaps she was even taking a short break before renewing her struggle.

She remained still, perhaps even asleep.

Then…she breathed out…so quietly that it almost wasn't heard…

"…_Sorry…"_

Uchiha Madara, a harsh man, a proud and unforgiving man, a man who was known as the greatest among his clan for more reasons than strength alone; he knew then and there that he did not want to intentionally hurt this woman, not again.

Madara's red eyes slimmed forebodingly, Sharingan deactivating. But neither could he allow her the freedom she so _vehemently desired. _

His door swung open from his kick, hitting the adjacent wall soundly. She flinched.

"Shhh," Madara hushed her as he laid her down on the bed. He chuckled darkly at her reaction. "You think me so narrow-minded a man that I will have you punished for saying things while you were not in your right state of mind?"

"Ah, ah," Madara forestalled, placing two fingers against her parted lips and whispering, "You don't want to answer that." He got up slowly, eyes flicking over to the silver pitcher lying on its side on the round table. So she had drunk all of that.

"I will deal with you in the morning," Madara promised her coolly.

Her sandal hit him on the back of his head before he got past the door.

"Fool," she said, hiccupping. "This is not my room."

… Slowly, Madara glanced back, narrowing eyes appraising her in the dark. Snidely, "You are to remain here until you come to your senses."

A second later, her other sandal hit him. "I will not stay here," she drawled.

Madara stepped back and yanked the door shut.

She giggled as he approached her with slow, deliberate steps.

"I am not afraid of you," she claimed, voice light. "You are nothing to me." Repeating softly, "Nothing to me."

And she meant it. He knew from the bleakness in her eyes and the way she didn't bother to draw back from him that she believed what she said.

"_My dear." _No more than a soft murmur. Madara leaned forward and rested his hands on either side of her, caging her in. _"You_ know_ you should not have said that."_

…

* * *

"My, my, Izuna-sama." A scoff in wry amusement. "Are you sure you don't need to be supervising your brother and his dear wife right now?"

Uchiha Izuna quirked a smile in response. "So it is you, Kaneko."

A cold, disdainful look in response.

"Quite potent isn't it?" Izuna commented, conversationally. "Only one out of thirty shinobi who attempt will master complete control of their chakra."

"A low method, Izuna-sama," the long-haired woman observed. "And staging that setting in the great hall to single me out. Perhaps you even used some on that poor woman as well?"

"You wound me," Izuna replied pleasantly. "That was perhaps another miscalculation on my part."

A chuckle. She spoke in cool triumph. "I'm amazed, Izuna-sama. Who knew there was such a past between them?" She chuckled again. "Perhaps I didn't even need to lift a finger." A smirk. "But now…it's impossible for them now, isn't it? There is no trust between them."

"I don't know if I should be relieved or appalled," Izuna admitted, undaunted. "Is this only a jealousy thing? The short fling you and Madara had was over long ago."

Her cold gaze did not flicker at the mention of that.

"Don't tell me," Izuna said in amusement, "a powerful and self-respecting kunoichi like you actually fell in love with an overbearing man like that."

"Love?" She repeated mockingly. Then she smirked, reassuring him, "Love has nothing to do with it." She turned away, gazing out into the night which had fallen over the entire stronghold.

"As you know, Izuna," she said, dropping the honorific. "We women, though born into such a proud warrior clan, regardless of talent, are not permitted to follow the path of the kunoichi once we become of age."

"The Uchiha clan has a smaller population than the majority of other highly-esteemed shinobi clans," Izuna quoted. "You know that things are like this to protect the future of our clan."

"…I know that," she replied, slowly turning back. "That is why…at a young age I've decided…" She gave a small bitter smile. "If I can't escape this fate, then I will…" a darkening of her eyes "…absolutely bear the son of the _strongest _man_._ Only then will my name be passed on."

"I kept myself at the top of my class," she reminded him. "After you both left regular training, there was no one ahead of me. I perfected every technique we were taught. I was faster than anyone, had more power than anyone, was quicker-witted than anyone. It was so that he would notice me."

"Sharp eye," Izuna conceded amusedly. "You were possibly one of the few who realized that Madara was hiding his true potential all that time."

"Ah, and he did notice me," Kaneko said bitterly. "Heh. I did everything I could. I used all the tricks in the book. Madara was attracted to my wit and admired my strength. But he…" A silent, simmering anger.

"…_Not once would he give me a child."_

"What is it that makes _that _woman special?" she continued, asking. "They say he loves her. A proud, practical man like him wouldn't have gone against the custom to take an outsider as his _wife _if he didn't love her."

"Hn. Is that so?" Izuna grinned at that. "Aye, everyone in the clan knows he's in love with the woman except the dense man himself."

"And how," Kaneko asked coldly, "is a powerless woman like her acceptable to the high standards Madara had previously set?"

Izuna chuckled in amusement. "Sadly," he mused aloud, "this is where you were wrong."

She did not respond.

"Hn, you see," Izuna explained, "When a person believes he or she is strong enough for _both_, they will start looking for qualities in a partner that they do not possess themselves. Madara, of course, does not realize this, but he certainly is no exception."

Izuna allowed a small smile. "Besides," he noted, "I think she may be the only woman who can handle him that well."

…

"Absurd," Kaneko said with a wry smirk. "But, I guess you will see. I'm sure Izuna-sama is aware that I won't be the only one who will act out on this. Better make an example out of me."

"That woman is under my protection," Izuna said calmly. "Any malice done unto her is any act directed at me. You can't say that you didn't expect to be found out when you committed treason against the mistress of the clan."

"I have no fear of death," she answered smoothly. "Only, one last request, Izuna."

His hand rested on the hilt of one sword, Izuna hesitated. "Name it," he said.

"…Fight me," she said, smiling a resigned smile. "…One last time."

* * *

…

Ah, it was warm. She was hot, sluggish. Incredibly aroused, though she didn't know the intense sensations lacing through her body meant that—because they were sensations so strong that they were almost painful. He made her hot, this man above her, his long form pressing against her as his heated hands ran sensually along her body, feeling her.

Something was wrong. Though she could only half-heartedly try to recall the reason for it being so, she knew intuitively that she should be resisting. Loreli hit her fists desolately against his chest, his shoulders, an action which tired her out rather quickly, as she was already panting, out of breath, before this. And she knew it was futile. He was a solid weight above her.

Gasping, she somehow managed to twist onto her stomach, attempting to crawl her way out from underneath him.

No words were spoken. Not a sound to be perceived save for their racing breaths. Perhaps that was the cause of her beginning doubts as to whether or not she was actually drunk and was hallucinating, or had passed out and was dreaming, or something to that effect. He didn't speak or make a single sound of disapproval, only snaked a strong arm around her waist and gently pulled her back. Madara was never gentle to her.

Her heart did a double-beat as she realized he had undone the buttons at the back of her dress. It was sliding off her shoulders.

"No!"

That seemed to have lifted the spell of silence. He was flipping her onto her back, and she was struggling. His lips came down on hers to muffle her protests.

And worked it did. Fire seared through her entire being. Her fingers clawed at the bed sheets below her as his mouth took her fully, his tongue dominating hers and overwhelming her with his heat. There was no mindless passion here, not even the urgency she had witnessed twice, but through his self-control and careful ministrations she sensed a fierce desire like never before.

Her lips trembling against his as he allowed her breath, she managed to choke out, "Madara-"

He must have heard that as a protest, which, in a way, it was. Once again his mouth angled and captured hers in a deep and enticing kiss, just powerful enough to set her lips burning without bruising them.

If Loreli didn't know better, she might've believed that Uchiha Madara was treating her tenderly. She really didn't know why her arms were wrapped around his neck before she noticed, either. A dream?

There was certainly something amiss. It felt like a haze right before her eyes which she simply couldn't rub away. And she could still think, except the thoughts which she so painstakingly managed to gather would disappear the very next instant, and it was too tiring trying to hold on to them. She couldn't remember much else except who this man was and that there was a reason why she was reluctant to let this happen. She couldn't remember. It was so frustrating, she wanted to cry.

Then he moved his lips from hers, sucking at the sensitive skin on her neck and she gasped as she felt him grind against her, the feel of his hard muscle-toned body causing her sweet supple form to clench with a terrible tightness at the awareness.

He did it again, harder this time. Though it was dark, the scent of this man and the feel of him, his warmth covering her, and the sound of his hair rustling with each movement filled her senses completely, possessively. Her cheeks were aflame. As her back dig further into the bed, she wasn't even aware that she was making those sounds, the sounds he wanted to wrest from her lips again.

"Ah-! Madara-!" Her nails clawed into his back, but Madara hardly felt them anyway, buffered by the black shirt he still wore. Neither of them was undressed yet, in fact, and though her dress had been loosened, only the love marks he had laid on her from that noon were exposed to him. And here he was impossibly aroused simply by the discovery that she could be quite a vocal lover.

"Madara-sa-…Please…" she pleaded tremblingly, a sweet sound despite the wrong context. He stopped caressing her jaw line with his lips and looked sharply to her face.

"I can't-…" she gasped out between breaths "I can't breathe…"

For a long moment Madara stared down at her without moving, trying to discern whether or not it was an excuse she just made. But, slowly, he lifted himself away from her.

He had made her cry again.

Wordlessly, Madara slid his long legs down the edge of the bed. She had drawn him in with her never before seen responsiveness, but it had never been his intention to take things any further tonight; just a fine vengeance on his part for leaving her wanting, and more the better if she remembers it tomorrow.

"You're going?"

Dark eyes snapped back to her. "What, am I to be blamed for taking advantage of you in this state when you come to your senses?" Madara questioned sneeringly.

She had sat up, getting closer to him curiously.

"You didn't mind touching me just now."

A chuckle. Madara folded his arms, meeting her questioning eyes. "Why don't beg me to stay?" he suggested softly, raising an arrogant brow.

"…How?" An honest question. That goes to say how befuddled her mind was at the moment.

He allowed a darkly amused smirk to form on his lips. Leaning over her shoulder, Madara said silkily next to her ear, _"Tell me that you want me."_

"I-…" There was hesitation, as if she was attempting to figure out something. Shaking her head lightly, she clung to him, much to his surprise. "I want you... Take me…Madara…you don't desire me?"

…

Gently, but firmly, he pried her arms off him, holding them to her side. "You are drunk," Madara informed her mockingly, finding none of the satisfaction he expected. Her last question simply failed to amuse him at this stage. "You will regret it."

"I'm not regretting it," she said stubbornly, chewing on her bottom lip nonetheless. The action drew his eyes to them, red and tender from his kisses. He gritted his teeth.

"You _will _regret it _tomorrow,_" Madara emphasized scathingly, reaching up to caress the side of her face and his long eyebrows arching pointedly. "When you are awake and sober."

Tomorrow? Loreli tried to follow his logic and failed. She concentrated on him instead, the man before her. He was handsome, so handsome, and beautiful with a distinct masculinity to his beauty. She brushed aside the long curtain of ebony black hair concealing a side of his face, her eyes soft and longing. "But I want you _now."_

She kissed him, claiming him with equal fervor as he had done with her. His hands immediately clasped around her arms again, but Madara was responding to her kiss and was indecisive whether to push her away or to draw her closer. At long last she felt a vibration from his throat, a growl, as he roughly pulled away and got up.

"Madara-"

Glowering darkly, Madara spat back, "Save yourself, you damn woman!"

She silenced dejectedly. Her downcast eyes looked like they were going to be misted over again.

_Oh, for—!_

The pillow hit him on the side of his head.

"Coward."

Then the other pillow.

"Coward," she repeated again, monotonously. Out of pillows, she began bunching up the blanket, preparing to throw that at him as well.

Madara narrowed his eyes at her, jaw taut. She paused to stare back defiantly, unfazed by his rising ire in her current state.

Ah. If he hadn't known without a doubt that she wasn't testing him on purpose, he'd make _damn sure_ that she wouldn't even be able to rise out of bed in the morning.

…Seeing that her method wasn't very effective in bringing him back to her, she dropped the blanket and held out her slender arms to him.

"…Come to me," she requested in a quiet voice. "I want to hold you."

…

"If you leave," she said, her voice trembling and causing him to halt, "I will scream."

Seconds ticked past. A long silence. Finally, just as Madara heard her draw in a deep breath, he spun around in exasperation. She stopped short.

The young woman was silent, waiting with bated breath as he made his way to her with slow, indecisive steps.

Only when he had carefully seated himself at the edge of the bed again did she relax into a gentle smile.

Her fingers brushed his skin, tracing the contours of his face. She did it seriously, as if exploring a marble statue with her hands, one that she had never seen before.

"You are beautiful," she breathed. "So beautiful. Has anyone ever told you that you are beautiful?"

Madara lightly quirked a brow in dark amusement, at her innocent question. _"_My dear, I have _killed_ people for lesser offenses."

…She paused to give him a frown, mind reeling. "Hum…?"

The black-clad shinobi let loose a chuckle at how out of it she was. "Nothing." Encircling her waist with one arm, Madara lowered her to the bed, noting the way she cringed lightly when her backside came into contact with the sheets. "Go to sleep now."

…Her arms had latched around his neck. She wouldn't release him. Madara frowned.

"_Woman,"_ Madara growled out in warning. Heedless to his warning, she had drawn herself up to him and was trailing light butterfly kisses languidly along the side of his face, and then down his jaw. He jerked away before she went any further, but she had caught long spikes of his ebony black hair between her fingers, raising his hair to her lips and inhaling his scent.

His blood was liquid fire, lava, inside his veins as he stared intently down at her, returning her heated gaze. Ah, he would_ kill_ to be able to give in to her temptation then, but Madara gripped the sheets tightly on either side of her head and held himself back.

"Madara-sama…"

"Shhh."

"Madara-sama…"

"_Silence,_ woman." His voice so soft, his eyes half-lidded and so unwittingly seductive, Loreli shivered as his gaze alone stroked her need. It was a silken and darkly alluring smirk, not quite a smile, on those oh-so-sensual lips. It was the smile of sinners, of black knights and dark kings who lured the princesses away from their white prince.

"Go to sleep now, or I will put you to sleep."

Her eyes widened.

"But…" She bit her lip and struggled as he reached for her eyes.

And bit his hand. Hard.

She heard the hissing intake of his breath…and yielded his hand to the intensity of his scowling eyes. Then her pink tongue darted out and sensually brushed his hand where she'd bitten him. Almost instantly she witnessed the melting of his hard countenance into a smoldering ardor.

"…I ache, my dark king." She whispered the words, fingers lightly pulling at the ends of his long ebony spikes. An invitation—no, a beckoning so powerful, his breathing was tense, unchecked, as Madara hissed out his words, punctuating each syllable with a biting effort.

"Little girl," he told her huskily, "_you are messing with fire."_ And she shivered in anticipation at his next words. "It will…" he drew in a sound breath "…_consume you."_

"Please…" She was pleading with him sweetly, a true siren's call if he ever heard one. "Please…"

They call him a heartless man; an unforgiving man; likened to a cold black diamond, impervious to time and to wear. Anyone who wronged him, he paid them retribution tenfold. Anyone who dared insult him by taunt or ridicule, he left them in such a broken state that they would never utter a word again. He was cruel. He was merciless. Neither a crafty woman's guiles nor a pure maiden's tears could move him.

Perhaps she was an exception. Ah, yes, perhaps she was an exception. After all, it was already evident that she had the ability to keep him in a constant state of aggravation. Yet, he wanted her. When her lips pursed and she aimed to provoke him on purpose, he wanted her. When she stilled and turned a cold shoulder on him, he wanted her. She contemptuously breached all the rules laid and disregarded his existence at every opportunity which presented itself, and yet Madara was beginning to acknowledge that he couldn't simply turn a blind eye to her distress as he could to anyone else.

What the hell was _the matter with him?_

"…Madara-sama…?"

Her eyes posed a hesitant question. She tugged insistently at the long ends of his hair. And to his surprise, he found the pull irresistible.

Just what kind of power did she have over him?

"Ma-" she started to say as his hands slipped under her back.

"Shhh," hushing her, Madara told her, his voice low and darkly seductive, "I will ease your ache."

She shivered as her dress slid off her shoulder, though he didn't think it was from the cold. She didn't assist him in any way, only watched up at him as he exposed her to his veiled eyes.

Her dense-lashed eyes were neither impatient nor apprehensive when Madara looked to them. She knew she was beautiful. And why wouldn't she be aware of this? Women of equal beauty, he had seen many, but Madara could honestly admit to himself that he had seen no greater.

She smiled prettily as he trailed cool fingers lightly over her stomach. When his thumb found the sensitive nub on her body and his other fingers teased her entrance, she giggled.

But that innocent giggle soon turned into something else.

"Oh-OH!" she gasped out, instinctively arching up against him. Madara slipped one arm beneath her neck, supporting her while one knee made sure she didn't close her legs. He gritted his teeth, as it was requiring tremendous effort to tune out of her sweet gasps.

He knew when she hit her peak. One gasp was sharper than the rest, and she tensed tighter underneath him, against his fingers. Finally, her body gave into spasms, her slender arms wrapping around his neck as if needing him for an anchor. She breathed his name softly into his long ebony mane before relaxing, then gasping for breath.

Madara chuckled at how easily exhaustible she was. He quirked a long arrogant eyebrow at her, who still clung to his neck. "Will you not let yourself be satisfied with this?" Madara asked her coolly.

He shouldn't have asked.

Because, still not letting go, the young woman looked up at him and smiled in amusement. She leaned up and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. If it were any more timid or a tad more aggressive, Madara would've drawn back and kept his resolve. As it were, her speaking action had stunned him. It wasn't a plea for more, or at least it didn't seem like one. It was more like—

Madara let out a low hiss in warning, grabbing her hands before she could raise his black, long-sleeved shirt any higher. She blinked her curious eyes up at him, and waited.

What _was this?_ Did he, _Uchiha Madara,_ suddenly lose all his identity as a dreadful and despicable man to her as soon as she was under the influence of alcohol?

She was patient, just waiting, as if believing somehow that he would grant her request if she waited long enough.

"Heh." Madara's dark lips twisted up into a smirk. He quirked an eyebrow. "Did you lose your voice just now?"

She made an expression much like a pout, but was silent still. She glanced down at his hands, still trapping her wrists. Then she glanced at the blankets on the other side of the bed as if she were getting cold. Taking the cue, Madara let go of her hands and reached to the blankets.

And felt her trying to slip his shirt off from behind.

"_You—!"_

He meant to yank the black fabric back down into place, but then Madara realized how unsightly it was, dueling over such a trivial matter with a drunk woman who happened to be _his wife._ With a snarl, he tore the damn shirt off over his head, flinging it down on the ground. Snidely, Madara demanded with a mocking twitch of his head, "There. Satisfied?"

She stared as if stunned at the wounds on his torso that had not healed yet.

"Ah," Madara observed, arching his long eyebrows arrogantly. "You forgot."

Her deep brown eyes looked up to him, with something close to sympathy.

...He frowned.

Reaching out, Madara tilted her chin up. Ah, she thought that was why he wouldn't give her what she wanted.

"My dear," Madara said snidely, "I _assure_ you that is not the reason."

She touched him. It was hesitant at first, but she felt both hands along his chest, bare except the areas still wrapped over by tight bandages. She traced those, too. It was as if she had never explored a man's body before and yet was unabashed.

Why didn't he halt her? Madara was wondering yet continued to allow her to do as she pleased. Was he so interested in watching her reactions to his figure?

When she leaned over and started planting kisses against his skin, however, he felt his breathing lengthen and knew he better stop her.

"Ah, ah," Madara chided as she fingered his belt, stopping her. A dry chuckle "No, my dear. _That _I'm afraid I won't permit."

She looked unhappy at his protest. But that didn't prevent her from reaching up a moment later and pulling him into a kiss.

He probably got a taste of his own medicine then. Madara involuntarily grasped her arms, but he couldn't bring her any closer than she was already pressing herself.

Madara near groaned at her complete acceptance, responding to her fiercely. They were both heaving for breath when they parted. He stopped short when she reached to encircle his chest with her arms, or as best as she could anyway. She laid the side of her head against him and just rested there, breathing softly into his hair.

It stunned him. Madara realized what it was that had taken him off-guard when she had first kissed him.

Affection. None of the women he'd slept with had ever shown such a thing towards him. Admiration, desire, envy and latent fear, the few women who had come to him on their own accord had offered him all these things, and each woman, each wanted something in return; be it his favour or his protection, his influence or even his heart. But none of them had shown him the honest and simplest form of affection that requires no selfishness.

She wouldn't be like this in the morning, Madara mused to himself, absently running a hand through her hair. She may not even _remember _this in the morning. She will return to her sanctuary behind protective walls and regard him in the same way she had always done. But now, only now, and because she couldn't recall all that he had done to her, she was showing him her affection for the relief he had provided her.

"Heh." Somehow Madara found that ironic; how easily pleased she was in actuality. "So that's the kind of woman you are."

A kindness for a kindness, was it?

Something he had never shown to her.

…She had stirred, and was trailing her fingertips along his skin. Ah, quite relentless, she was. She pushed gently against him, and to his surprise Madara found himself leaning back according to her wishes. He shouldn't be. It was another grudge she would have against him when she came to her senses, not that her opinion of him could drop any lower than it was.

But despite everything, he was still not made of steel. No, he was only a man who desired the woman before him like he desired no other.

And she would hate him for it.

Madara hissed in, thoughts temporarily forgotten, as she touched his tip with one finger, then rubbing against it curiously.

When had she even tugged down his trousers without his notice? Madara wondered wryly. Now that she knew the extent of his longing for her, she wasn't going to let it go, was she?

Madara gritted his teeth, stopping her with his hands on her waist as she positioned herself above him. "My dear," he told her smoothly, slanting one arrogant brow up at her, "You won't like it. I can't hold myself back for long this time."

She giggled as if he said something silly. She placed two fingertips against his flushed lips, a gesture for him to not speak. Then she ran her hands down the length of his ebony mane that framed either side of his face. "Allow me…Madara-sama…"

He could not deny her.

Slowly, Madara eased his hold, allowing her movement.

She moved unhurriedly, sliding warily over his pulsing length and pausing every now and then to determine something. Her warmth sheathed him, agonizingly slow, and was so exquisite that it took all his willpower to not buck his hips up the rest of the way and have her envelope him completely.

Madara chuckled, the sound constricted by a raging desire, at the curious look in her eyes as she settled down atop of him easily.

"If it's your virginity that you are checking for," he told her, syllables interrupted at random places by his harsh breathing. Madara arched a long thin eyebrow. "I took it from you long ago."

A faint blush stole across her cheeks. _A blush,_ for god's sake. He had never seen her react this way towards him; to allow herself to be affected by him. Ah, it was more than he could take.

She yelped when Madara placed his hands on her hips and held her in place as he thrust up deeper into her depths. She steadied herself, relaxing after the initial surprise and laughing sweetly. And as before, that innocent laugh soon turned into short, abrupt gasps as he repeated the action, each stroke seemingly more agonizing for Madara than the last. He couldn't-…couldn't hold back.

With a sharp and prolonged grunt, Madara gave in to the irrepressible urge for release, tightening his hold on her supple form. After a moment she joined him. Madara gritted back another grunt as her walls convulsed around him, milking him instinctively.

…

After it was over, Madara found that he wasn't too pleased that he was panting more heavily than she was. A bit sheepishly, she smiled, rising off him only to lean her warm body fully against his broad chest.

A pause, then a silent chuckle. Madara stroked a hand through her damp hair. It looked like this stubborn, dignified woman she made herself out to be actually liked being pampered.

"…_Thank you…"_ she said, so softly he might've not heard.

…

…How was it that she could elicit feelings of regret from him by the simplest of phrases, and without even meaning to?

She didn't move. He could tell from the steady lengthening of her breath that she was drifting off. Madara gazed down at her closed eyelids, at the full view of her dense black lashes.

"You can't be satisfied with just that," Madara told her smoothly, darkly amused. He cradled an arm around her bare shoulders, promising into her ear, his voice low and seductive, "I will show you how it's properly done."

Loreli heard his words, but her mind was lazy now. She didn't attempt to follow him on his meaning. Nor did she bother to do anything save blink her eyes open to stare when he laid her down on her back.

He was feeling her; his hands teased all the sensitive areas on her skin, as if he had those memorized. It tickled, making her to squirm and want to laugh, but she had no more strength to spare and it wasn't an altogether unpleasant sensation. But wherever his hands have lingered and then left, it burned. Before she thought to complain about the burning sensation, however, he slashed his mouth down on her parted lips.

All at once she was thrown back to the inferno, the deep throbbing ache and the fear that he would leave off at that. Oh, she needed to breathe, wanted to breathe, but she didn't want to pull away. Her arms automatically encircling his neck, she tried to return his kiss, but all she could really manage was to not be completely overwhelmed.

She was gasping for air when he finally let her, his hands pressing her arms down to either side of her. That left her defenseless when he lowered his lips to her chest, claiming the peak of one mound inside his heated mouth. She jerked, bending her legs, only to find that his knees were positioning her legs spread, preventing her from escaping his slow torture.

"Madara…Madara…" she pleaded, throat dry.

He paid her no heed, continuing the kneading with his tongue and the grazing with his teeth until she was sure her skin was raw. Then he moved to the other breast, leaving the first tender and throbbing. It was torture, knowing that he meant to take his time and wouldn't stop until he was satisfied.

He glanced up when a quiet whimper escaped her.

"Ah, you want me to stop?" he asked her with a quirk of his long, taunting eyebrows.

She nodded, pouting her lips slightly in askance.

"Not sure I caught that," Madara told her silkily, a knowing smirk curling up one corner of his dark sensual lips.

"Please st—" she cut off with a squeal as she felt him stroke the slit between her nether lips. He placed his thumb over the nub there, rubbing deliciously.

Loreli swallowed, gasping as he leaned himself over her, her tender and sensitive breasts grinded against his hard chiseled chest if she arched up. She was trapped, and she wished he would end this torture.

"Please don't tease me," she sniffed. "Please don't-"

He silenced her protest with another deep, probing kiss, sucking the fight out of her. She trembled as he lowered himself atop of her, breaking the kiss. Oh, she would've still protested the exquisite pain from being flushed against him, if not for the light prodding at her entrance which distracted her.

Her eyes snapped up and locked with his.

"If you feel you will lose consciousness," Madara advised her smoothly, a knowing smirk on his dark flushed lips, "Just give a scream."

Without further warning he plunged himself into her sweet warmth, robbing her breath. She felt him pulse inside her for a moment before he drew back, plunging again, deeper. Her toes curled up and she panted, feeling him fill her completely.

Very soon she realized what he meant by his words. His rhythm, his force, his dominance; it was almost too intense to keep up with. She couldn't breathe, or couldn't remember to breathe, whichever it was. She was struggling too hard trying to keep her senses in check.

It started when she had first opened her mouth to plead for mercy, but what came out instead was a half-strangled cry, a cross between discomfort and ecstasy. It quickly escalated from there. Soon she was screaming out in earnest each time he hit the nerves at the end of her passage with a grunt. Her nails dug into his back as best they could, and she knew but couldn't help it. Between her cries she whispered his name repeatedly.

At one point he tensed up, and she knew he was at his limit. His slanting, heavy-lidded eyes sought down at her and saw that she was expectant.

"Heh." A small smirk. Madara shifted position, sliding his hands under her legs.

She yelped as he pushed up her legs and gave her that one final thrust which caused her to slide back further, almost reaching the headboard. She inhaled sharply as his hot seed filled her, triggering an explosion of pleasurable sensations which rocked her forcefully along with it, a white rush which temporarily stole her vision.

…

And finally, when it subsided, she felt boneless and contented. Also dreadfully exhausted. He relieved her of his weight.

Madara saw her stifle back a yawn and then gazed at the pillows that had been discarded on the floor on the other side of the room. She looked like she was debating whether or not it was worth the effort rising up to get them. She didn't protest when she felt his arm circle her waist, pulling her down.

Her eyes appraised him carefully in the dark as he drew the blanket over them, allowing her his arm as pillow. She gave him a soft smile, and for once did not pull away when he held her.

"…Yes, goodnight…Madara-sama…"

Her eyelids slowly and gently fluttered shut. And, curious, at the same time a single streak of tears slid out from both eyes, warm against his skin. Then her breathing evened and he knew she was asleep.

Ah. Uchiha Madara drew the girl closer to him, jaw tightening painfully.

Then, hesitatingly, the long ebony-haired shinobi held her dearly to his chest…and wondered wryly if this would be the closest he could ever get to her heart.

* * *

**A/N:** Hmm… Just curious; given all things are considered, and we leave out the knowledge that this is a romance story (which apparently means miracles do happen?), whose side would you lean towards? Or does it appear that neither side is in the wrong and that their relationship was simply doomed from the beginning? Don't worry, it won't affect anything; I just want to hear your true opinions on their dilemma!


	16. Tempest I

**A/N:** Lol, I'm glad someone brought up the possibility of a pregnancy. I hope this doesn't sound defensive or anything, but please allow me the honour of dispelling a few common misconceptions about pregnancy in fiction.

Well, although you may believe it as a certainty for Loreli, in reality not every pregnancy is simple as it is in the romance novels, and as you notice by now I am slanting this fic towards realism. To put it simply, they've 'mated' on two distanced days in less than one month so far, but depending on when those separate days fall on her monthly cycle, conception _may_ _not _have occurred (of course, we don't know her monthly cycle as of yet). I will explain. In women, typically falling between two periods is the day an ovulation occurs. In some cases women who tried to conceive_ only_ succeeded on the day, or within two days prior, of their ovulation—because an unfertilized egg cell only has a lifespan of _up to_ _one day_, and sperm cells _on average_ live up to 5 days inside the female reproductive tract. So there's only a few days a month fertilization possibly occurs (this period is known as the 'fertile window'). And, although a pregnancy may have occurred, a great number of women do experience a natural miscarriage in a very early stage, often gone unnoticed as what only seems to be a heavy period. It may sound like I'm getting this off one of those websites that try to reassure women who have anxiety of these sorts of things, but I can confirm all this through the personal experience of a few close family members, and I also get information from two of my aunts who are doctors. Now, I am not denying any possibility that Loreli may be pregnant. The chances are great, but they are not a certainty. We can only wait to find out

**knightchaser:** caught your hint, entertained the idea, and I admit I could see it happening as well as the way it could further plot development later on xD. The only thing which holds me back, however, is that above all, it was a grave offense that had been committed, and I don't believe they'd be able to let it slide .o Kinda a shame, I know.

* * *

**Till You Die**

15 –_Tempest I_

* * *

A spectacular headache. Her head felt stuck face-down on her pillow, which in turn must be stuck to the bed. She couldn't budge.

Loreli wondered if she had rolled down a hill of hot coals last night. Maybe she had. But then, wouldn't she at least _remember_ something like that?

…And this wasn't her room, was it? If it were, then she'd be feeling sunlight pouring over her back. She was pretty sure it was past morning already.

…

"_Hmf." _She huffed into the pillow. Where were her arms? Her knees? Her shoulders?

Her head. hurts.

…

She must have dozed off. When she came around again, her head was a little clearer. And she regained some feelings in her limbs. Also a soreness in an area that aroused an all too familiar sense of dread within her.

A quick brush of her fingers confirmed that she was lying nude beneath the covers.

Bastard. Oh, bastard.

Somehow, somehow she managed to sidle to the edge of the bed, getting tangled up in the blankets in the process. She fairly fell to the floor.

"_My lady?"_

"…Help me," Loreli answered to the muffled voice outside the door.

…A mistake. She had been too disoriented to consider the possibility that the person behind the door could've been a male.

"…Get out," Loreli sighed, drawing the blankets tighter around herself.

She heard the door shut.

…

A white robe, neatly folded, lay on the chair next to her. Loreli glanced around for signs of her previous attire.

…No help for it, then.

A pretty garment it was; a rosy shade of white damasked by rich embroidery of the same colour; embroidery which revealed itself under the light. She quite admired it, actually. But, if it happened to be a gift from _that man_, she'd never admit it. Did he realize that an inner robe was typically worn under an outer garment like this?

Nevermind.

Above all, she wanted to rinse herself first. She didn't exactly feel in the most pristine of conditions.

…The trek to his bathroom seemed to last longer than it actually did. Regardless, it was just as well that she had made the effort.

Because the sight of a hazy bath already running gave her the first inkling that something was amiss.

These…these were his quarters weren't they? Did he simply forget to make use of his bath, or…

_What happened that had made him feel the need to be making gifts to her? _

Loreli massaged her temples wearily.

No…what was she...for-gett—…ing-…?

_Ugh._

* * *

"Hm…" Izuna rubbed the back of his neck, eyes creased in a light smile. "I don't understand; where is all the unshakeable confidence which had never failed you up till now?"

Madara did not reply, eyes scanning the reports a messenger had delivered to him earlier. It was a half-hearted attempt at preoccupying himself. There really wasn't a need to go through them three times.

"Surely you, _Uchiha Madara_, don't need any reassurance from me?" Izuna all but laughed. He was rewarded with a cold sidelong glance, which he promptly ignored. "Are you telling me that you don't believe you can win her forgiveness during all of the fall and winter months?"

Briskly, Madara folded up the papers, demanding snidely, _"_Win her forgiveness? _How?" _

To which Izuna answered unhelpfully with a shrug, _"Nicely?"_

It was pointless getting responses out of Izuna.

Uchiha Madara paced to the other side of the hallway, then back.

It was pointless waiting out here for her, likewise. Her contempt was something guaranteed, and she would no doubt start a scene he'd rather not deal with. Yet, Madara was no coward. He was a warrior, a tactician. He _wanted_ to know what he would be facing from now onwards.

Madara paused, glanced back, and finally thought to ask, "Why are you here, Izuna?"

"I thought you might need me as insurance," Izuna remarked pleasantly.

An unappreciative frown. "I'm not going to raise my hand against her," Madara said coldly, arrogantly, arching a snide brow.

"No, I mean," Izuna explained unhurriedly, "I thought I might insure _your _safety."

…Before Madara could retort, the sound of a door opening down the hall diverted his attention.

…

…She was a vision in white. Her hair, still damp from her bath, was jet black in contrast, lightly brushing her shoulders. A loveliness which Madara knew would be locked away as soon as her dark eyes set on him.

She did notice them. Her soft gaze flickered over both of them. Without as much as a pause she wound past them and continued down the hall.

"…You know," Izuna commented aloud, "I never thought I'd see the day _your _presence gets brushed off."

A pause. The young woman turned back. "Oh," she said gently, stepping quietly towards Izuna, "Before I forget…"

_-Slap._

Madara watched, stunned speechless, as Izuna slanted his head to one side, then to the other in contemplation. She didn't wait for a reaction. She left.

"…I may have deserved that," Izuna admitted when she was gone, rubbing the back of his neck and still wearing the same pleasantly unfazed expression. After a moment of thought, he predicted, "She'll be back."

Sure enough, less than a minute later she returned, biting her knuckle while her other arm encircled herself below the chest. This time she glanced up at neither of them, but it was obvious who she was speaking to when she started, hesitantly, "If…there was something that I said last night…"

"Don't worry about it," Izuna replied with a knowing grin.

Her gaze flickered briefly up at the younger Uchiha sibling. "Then, I won't."

For perhaps the first time in his life, Madara experienced the strain of a cold glance which passed right through him.

"Woman!"

So she was planning on ignoring his very existence, was that it?

She gave no indication that she heard him, only carried on.

Madara slapped the reports into Izuna's shoulder, indicating that he should hold on to them.

"You think it wise to ignore me?" Madara demanded coldly, following after her.

No response.

His hand slammed against the wall before her, effectively cutting off her path.

A long pause.

Slowly, very slowly, she raised her veiled gaze in response to his challenge.

"…Me, Madara-sama?"

Her voice was calm, cool.

"…You were…speaking to me?"

Before he could react, she chuckled lightly.

"Forgive me; I didn't realize that I am the only woman who resides in the center complex."

Madara felt the solemn set of his jaw, slim eyes staring back down at her.

This was the very problem. She wouldn't let him explain. She wouldn't let him apologize, even _if _he would lower himself so low as to ask her forgiveness while she was using that demeaning tone of voice on him. She was hell-bent on _keeping_ him as an antagonist.

"I have a name, Madara-sama. Be so kind as to address me by name rather than by those awkward endearments you gave me."

She was attempting to skirt around him. Of course, he didn't allow her.

"Awkward endearments?" Madara repeated skeptically, knitting a frown. "You are my wife!"

Tilting her head back slightly, she rested her cool gaze on him unflinchingly. "…No, Madara-sama. I am…" small, wry smile "…only a woman who you thought pleasant to have as a wife." She blinked slowly. A soft smile. "In actuality, I am no more than an unwilling whore, whose claiming you sought to romanticize by tagging her with a title."

Her breathing sped up perceivably as Madara laid his arms on either side of her head, trapping her against the wall.

"Ungrateful wench."

Then, voice softening, Madara asked her, "What is this about? You are mad that I took advantage of you last night?"

A pause.

"Pff…"

For the second time on the same day, Madara was stunned by her unexpected reaction.

"…Madara-sama, I was drunk, you were drunk; there is no need to bring that up again, is there?"

… 'Stupefied' was the word. Madara didn't even think to prevent her from maneuvering her way out of his arms.

_Impossible._ She meant to tell him—

Madara recovered in time to snarl after her, "You take me for a _drunkard!?"_

A sharp demand she did not even bother to acknowledge.

…Sigh. Izuna's elbow rested down on his shoulder, holding him back. "You really have no sense of delicacy," Izuna noted in amusement.

Madara's murderous glare swung on him.

"Take care of matters on my behalf," Madara spat, irritably shrugging off Izuna's arm.

"That is of course," Izuna said after him, holding back a laugh at the sight of the Uchiha clan's leader stalking a young woman who was clearly ignoring him.

"Girl!"

* * *

…

It was quiet. A devastating silence.

…She had thought that her circumstances couldn't possibly worsen any further. She…had been wrong.

…

The Uchiha women with her in the tailoring room had enough decency to spare her the converted glances. But the atmosphere was tense. None of the women wished to be the first one to breach the silence.

What she had done…was irreversible.

"If there is anything someone wants to say," Loreli finally said, her words slow and smooth, "I would like to hear it."

One of the women promptly burst into tears.

…Dumbstruck, Loreli felt the fabric slip out of her hands.

A long and awkward hesitation. Loreli leaned down to pick up what she had dropped…but found that her fingers couldn't-…wouldn't reach far enough.

…

…She hadn't meant for her words to sound bitter.

"We didn't-…We thought-…" the awkward, apologetic words of someone who spoke up.

…Loreli paused, before straightening up and carefully setting aside her materials. She breathed out.

"Neither of them explicitly stated that I can't tell anyone," Loreli said calmly. "I…was the one who had deceived you all."

"Come now," an older woman chided. "We all know that's not-…"

…Loreli interrupted her with a soft laugh. "Was I afraid? …No…it wasn't fear which prevented me. I…simply thought that…" Noting the varying expressions of alarm but ignoring them, she continued, "…If I hid behind a mask and allowed people to think that I was willing…then the treatment Madara-sama gave me…" she smiled wryly, recognizing the presence _"…will make his image just that much uglier."_

"Get up."

Without hesitation, Loreli rose. It wasn't like she could endure the burn from remaining seated any longer.

"Come with me," his cold, arrogant voice commanded her.

…

Instead of obeying his command, she chose to move to the opposite end of the room.

"Madara-sama—"

"Madara-sama-"

They tried to stop him; she'd give them that. But he was _Uchiha Madara_, the strongest man in the clan and their leader. As soon as he was in upon them they realized the futileness of resistance and parted a way.

"You will insist on making this difficult?" Madara asked her coolly.

She refused to look at him.

He reached out for her. She struggled against his hold, tipping over a chair.

"Out of my way!" Madara snarled warningly, dragging her along by her waist.

"Stop," Loreli managed between gasps. If anything, his arm only tightened around her.

…She hated him.

She hated him.

Bastard.

All of a sudden she felt herself being released. Loreli lost her balance, crumpling down to her hands and knees.

"Explain yourself to me."

Unhurriedly getting up to her knees, Loreli saw that he had stopped and had dumped her unceremoniously in the middle of the hallway.

She spoke coolly. "Explain what, Madara-sama?"

Black curtained her vision. The tall, long-haired shinobi was caging her in. "That isn't the same reason you gave me," he said quietly, smoothly. It was a tremendous effort to resist meeting his eyes.

Loreli feigned a smile.

"Madara-sama…" she said "…you shouldn't believe everything that falls from a woman's lips."

Palms slammed into the wall on either side of her head, nearly startling her. Nearly.

"_Enough,"_ Madara stated coldly, his posture taut.

"…Enough, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked blandly. When had he ever paid any heed whenever she had pleaded for him to stop? "I simply took the blame off your shoulders. Is that not what you want?"

"That is not what I want!" Madara's sharp retort as he gripped her arms.

At the sight of her shut eyes appearing so distressed and repulsed at the contact, Madara let go. "Damn it," he cursed. "You can't even bear to _look at me_, is that it?"

…

"That's right."

A silence ensued.

She couldn't tell if he was stunned, or if he was containing his rage. Neither did she care.

"So you wish to play arrogant. Ah," Madara observed mockingly, "You wish me to show you respect?"

He took her by the arm, pulling her along. Loreli held her tongue, puzzled for she couldn't comprehend his intent from the direction he was taking her in. Before she knew it, they were in front of the double doors of the general archives, doors which Madara swung open forcefully.

"_Out!" _

Startled by the abrupt interruption, the few men and women inside the archives set down whatever they were doing and obeyed.

Loreli felt him lean over her shoulder. "I will give you two weeks to master every scroll in this library," Madara told her arrogantly. "You can count on being questioned at the end."

Her eyes skimmed over the shelves which lined all sides of the walls. Two weeks? And he truly believed it'd make a difference _now_ whether or not he treated her any better?

"Madara-sama," Loreli said calmly. "One week is good enough."

She sensed him stiffen.

The doors slammed shut behind her back.

"_Don't let her out lest I say so!"_ she heard Madara snap to whoever was out there with him.

…

* * *

"What?" Izuna asked in amusement. "You've finally decided to put her through the usual routine? Don't you think you should have done that _before_ you've agreed to accept her as your wife?"

A murderous glare answered him.

Izuna hiked an eyebrow, interpreting that accusatory glare correctly. "Oh? That's interesting. I don't recall specifying a _time. _You decided that on your own._"_

There were times when Uchiha Madara wondered if his younger brother held a grudge against him.

"Do you happen to realize that if she_ does_ exceed your expectations…you will have no more hold on her should she choose to shun you? You have just given her all the power she needed."

Madara spun to face him.

"She can't accomplish it. She _won't_ accomplish it. There is no way she'd be able to succeed where all others have failed."

Izuna hid back a grin. "I take it that you are planning to put her through all trials?"

"Completely unnecessary," Madara snarled back, adding, "She has no _reason _to want to impress me."

Madara frowned, paced to his office window, and then swung back. "Just what the hell do you find so amusing!?"

"Hn." Izuna rubbed the back of his neck, unable to conceal his amusement. "Still as self-absorbed as always, brother mine. It doesn't have to be to impress you, you know."

Izuna crossed his arms, leaning back against Madara's desk.

"You may not acknowledge this yet, Madara, but that girl has the blood of _queens._ She may be powerless on her own, but any man who aspires to be a ruler would want someone like her at his side. …Do you think that, when she truly makes up her mind to escape, she wouldn't be able to find a way?"

Izuna raised an eyebrow at his brother's reaction.

"But such a woman," the Uchiha clan's second-in-command warned, "will either make a great man…_or destroy him." _

"How far are you willing to go to win her trust?" Izuna wanted to know. "Have you no answer yet?"

"I suggest you not waste your time by putting this off," Izuna added when Madara didn't reply right away. "Unless you want someone else to steal her heart."

* * *

…

She was still standing, staring unseeingly ahead of her when the door clicked open. Izuna or Madara himself, she'd expected, but…

"I don't suppose you're here to end my library imprisonment?" Loreli asked wryly.

Pale blue eyes assessed her unblinkingly. "You are the reason for this barricade," the head medic said tonelessly, not even bothering with making it a question. "I suspected as much."

She didn't need to ask why he was here. Without another glance her way, the regal man went to the shelves, replacing the scrolls in his arms into their proper slots.

After a while of watching his back, Loreli finally spoke.

"…You must be quite disappointed in me, Ingra-san."

Uchiha Ingra did not reply, nor gave any indication that he had heard.

"You have heard of it, haven't you?" Loreli said quietly, more so to herself. A wry smile. "Do you think me an ungrateful wench as well?"

"What I think matters not," his cold reply. In silence he finished up his task, and then turned to meet her gaze steadily.

"Is there a reason you are cradling that arm?" Uchiha Ingra asked tonelessly.

She blinked, realizing that she _was_ doing that without knowing.

"Oh my," Loreli commented wryly, "How scary, Head Medic. You don't happen to be concerned, do you? I…" she pursed her lips a brief moment "…don't need pity from someone who had refused to help me."

Silence.

She was the one who broke eye contact first.

"…Sorry. That was quite bitter of me."

She hadn't expected him to speak to her again after that. He moved over to one of the shelves and slid one scroll out, tossing it onto the desk before her.

…

"…What is this?" Loreli inquired, not reaching for it.

Ingra replied coolly, "The record on Madara's parents."

She blinked.

"You'd have learned by now that the brothers were orphaned at a young age," the head medic presumed indifferently.

"That isn't to say such things were uncommon among a warrior clan," Ingra continued, watching her as she stared down at the scroll with a puzzled expression. "It was harder on Madara than it was on Izuna. Not every orphan had to look after a younger sibling on his own. No one wanted anything to do with them."

"Not everyone who knows the truth," the head medic informed her. "Madara's father was not a competent warrior. He died in battle before Madara was old enough to remember him. In a clan where strength meant everything, it did not place his widowed wife and his son in high esteem."

"Madara was about three winters by then, when his mother was about to give birth to Izuna. It was before her due date. Her uterus had ruptured and she would not stop bleeding. Unfortunately," Ingra said with a tinge of regret, remembering how it was. "It was at a time where the Uchiha warriors have just returned from the battlefield. The medics gave priority to the men whose statuses were a lot higher."

She didn't want to hear this anymore. She wanted to tell him to stop. Wanted to cover her ears. Her arms were frozen.

"For an entire gruesome night Madara stayed by her side, until she finally brought his brother into this world. She herself did not survive."

"From then on was installed within him, an insatiable thirst for power, and an incorrigible habit of asserting his superiority over others."

"That is the kind of man your husband is," the head medic said coolly. "I don't see why it is so difficult. Has Madara ever raised a hand against you without having reason to?"

She had no answer.

"If there is anything you require assistance with in your reading," Ingra said, changing the topic. "You can send for me."

…

"…The end of my fifteenth summer," she said, halting him on his way out. "Yuzuzu-hime's kite got stuck up in a tree. I fell from the height and broke my arm."

"For…an entire month…" Loreli murmured in remembrance "…I was in…excruciating agony…"

…If there was one thing she knew back at the time, it was that she was in an utter. unbelievable. _pain._

After a small breath, she continued. "It had gone through the skin, broken in an exceptionally bad angle. Never before had the royal physician been called to examine a servant, but even then…" Loreli glanced over at the Uchiha clan's head medic with a knowing smile. "And you know what I said to him…? I told him without hesitation, 'If you cannot salvage it, then saw it off'."

A small laugh. Loreli looked away.

"But that's…the type of person I am…" Loreli mused aloud. He neither moved nor made comment, only listened with a keen silence which made it easier for her to bear.

"My mother," she began. A pause. "I can't honestly say that I remember her face…but I recall knowing that she was…very beautiful." Not even she can compare to the radiant beauty her mother had possessed, was said to have possessed. "I…don't know much about her at all," Loreli admitted after some thought. "Only that…for the sake of my future, she sought the protection of a feudal lord." A wistful smile. "…But it wasn't until many years later did I realize that was the reason…"

She had been young. Too young. No, she…had not understood at all…

"Of course, the feudal lord didn't do this from the goodness of his heart. It is said that in appearance and bearing, my mother bore great semblance to his deceased wife, whom he missed dearly."

"Besides," Loreli added, "The princess, his beloved daughter, was not yet two years of age, and in need of a mother figure. The position of royal nursemaid, to my mother who loved children dearly, was something she could not refuse."

"But it did not last long…" She bowed her head lightly.

"…There was an assassination attempt." Her tone hardened. "Before my very eyes she chose to give up her life shielding the princess, when she clearly had a choice. I-…"

Loreli cut herself off, glancing over at Ingra with a wry smile. "When you are only five years of age… When, aside from the woman who is your mother, there are only strangers in a strange place… What…would you think…?"

…

"I…" her dense lashes drooped to veil her eyes "…_could not forgive_ _Yuzuzu-hime_."

"But she…pure-hearted and sheltered girl; the princess…attached herself to me like a leech. I believe," Loreli reflected, "She thought me her sister."

She let slip a smile. Aha…

"I accepted the role as Yuzuzu-hime's constant companion because I've…been told to forgive her. No-…because there had been no other choice. It wasn't always easy," Loreli admitted. "Sometimes…I'd wonder if Mother had any idea how harsh court life was on a child who was at the center of many jealousies she herself left behind."

…

"That isn't to say there weren't good times. It's just-…well …" Loreli trailed off, averting her gaze before starting up again, voice toneless. "At one point I came to realize that I was…pretty. Exceptionally pretty. Among us female servants who had no way of improving our circumstance other than possessing a pretty face…it aroused quite a bit of animosity towards me."

"That marked the end of my childhood," Loreli realized, thinking back. "Those who were kind to me, I repaid their kindness threefold. Those who had their specialty, I would not surpass them in their art. Those who openly showed me their spite, I would smile and never tell a single soul. What did it matter that I was conforming to their beliefs that, when being blessed with beauty, I did not need to try hard at all? It was better than-…No… It was only that way…in a place rampant with ambition and intrigue…that I survived."

…She had…never once thought that she was a gentle and soft-spoken girl by nature.

A small, mirthless smile. "It wasn't until one time when a new servant joined us and we went through some introductions that I…" a pause, expression solemn "…had realized that I had…_completely lost myself."_

"I believe I had seen thirteen autumns by then," Loreli noted. "My young mistress was only ten years of age, a sensitive young girl although not very perceptive on some matters. She was alarmed by the change in me. The more quiet and reserved I grew, the more mischievous and bold Yuzuzu-hime became. The more she strove to break me out of my shell, the more strained she made my relations with the other servants. But…"

"How can I…" her eyes shut, she whispered, "…_not _love her?"

…

"Yet…I could not forgive her." Loreli wrapped her arms around herself. "Nor could I bring myself to hate her. I was young, Head Medic. Because I could not fully understand, nor could I forget that my mother chose her instead of me…" She laughed, adding as a side-note, "We even looked alike."

"And because I could not bring myself to hate Yuzuzu-hime," Loreli said. "Each time I would look into a mirror and see my own reflection… All the pain and confusion…all the feelings of abandonment and inferiority…_began turning inwards onto myself."_

"And why not?" Loreli asked tonelessly. "I suppose the feudal lord felt he owed something to me, but still…he did not allow me to become the princess's companion without reason. Many a time I have posed as a double for Yuzuzu-hime when there had been a threat. My life was of no import, and I knew this. I was expected to have no hesitation in discarding my own life for the princess. I came close… A man died. I knew him."

Contemplating how much to say, Loreli closed her eyes for a brief moment. "When I had lain awake in the infirmary, sleepless and tormented, with no choice but to endure because of Yuzuzu-hime's resolve to find a doctor who can heal my arm… An unlikely visitor called upon me."

A day she remembered…vividly. The heat. The blazing sun outside. The unfamiliar silhouette at the door. A boy.

"Barely a young man then, a soldier-in-training aspiring to be a general. I knew of him. The orphaned son of the royal guard who had used his life to save mine." Loreli looked to the head medic calmly.

"I…took one look at his eyes…and knew exactly what he was thinking."

How…could she not know? This was the girl, the nameless and simple girl, whom his father had sacrificed his life for. The kind of thoughts that must be running through his head, she understood—thought she had understood perfectly.

…

"The first words out of his mouth," Loreli remembered with a small smile. She quoted, "I will honour my father's promise in his stead. If it be that you will not recover from this injury, I…will protect you the rest of my life."

"…That," she said, smiling gently, "Is the first person who had offered me unconditional acceptance, if only because of his honour. And… the only man I've ever loved."

Oda Katamori. The one who had…eventually…

…saved her…

…from _the darkness_.

"I've never considered my life to be that unfortunate," Loreli mused aloud. "…Nor am I irrational enough to think that your leader has no justifications."

…

…But she, more than anyone…knew that understanding did not equate forgiveness… The latter has to come willingly.

Loreli turned to face him fully. "Before my eyes he nearly destroyed the two people my whole world revolved around. The utter terror I felt then…" Her eyes drooped. She trailed off, and did not continue her sentence.

Coolly, Loreli asked, "You're telling me…I'm supposed to betray them for a man _I cannot even look at_ without being reminded of that night? _How…?"_

He did not take long to answer.

"Many women learn to adapt," Ingra replied simply. "It is a matter of necessity."

"It is not possible," said Loreli. "No," she added as an afterthought, "I should say… _It is not possible for me."_

She heard the click of the door.

"Izuna-sama's orders," the shinobi who entered informed her, "My lady is permitted to leave this room."

"I rather like it in here," Loreli said to him.

Surprise.

Loreli glanced to Ingra, shrugging one shoulder. "Do stop by to visit."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Yes! Finally got to this stage. Now you know Loreli's background and true personality. And now you know exactly what Madara's up against. Stay tuned if you want to see her make him suffer ^^

By the way, I do know it's 'emperors' and 'empresses' instead of kings and queens in Japan…but it just sounds so weird when I use those ^^;


	17. Tempest II

**A/N:** Ohh… Am I starting to see a reader divide between sympathizing more with Loreli and sympathizing more with Madara? That is excellent.

**MadaraMangekyou:** That is an interesting question. If Madara went all out in a fight, would he win or would Izuna win? Hmm…I think the answer would depend on luck and circumstance. The way the fight ended in chapter 8 would be the turning point where Madara expected Izuna to _actually _get serious, but Izuna forfeited instead. As for your other question…Typically a 'Pre-canon' or 'Post-canon' will mean that the storyline does follow the canon plotline in the manga, albeit maybe not to the letter because it does leave a lot of room for interpretation. I know that doesn't answer much, but maybe you can stick around to find out ^^

**Numb Seraph:** An interesting suggestion. I will look for an opportunity to write more on this Madara's past~

* * *

**Till You Die**

16 - _Tempest II_

* * *

He was writing at his desk when she entered. Fancy that. The great Uchiha Madara doing scribe work. For some reason she had never envisioned him sitting down and doing anything calm. How good was his penmanship, she wondered?

Dark eyes looked up from his desk. The pen twirled around once in his hand. Madara set it down.

He watched her.

…Loreli approached him nonchalantly.

"I can't begin to express my incredulity, Madara-sama," she said tonelessly. "You had me dragged out just for this?"

She was about to drop the tray of tea onto his desk, heedless of what kind of mess it'd create.

…An array of metal passes lying at the corner of his desk caught her eye.

Slanting an arrogant look up at her, Madara told her, "We need to talk."

Not bothering with a response, Loreli pushed the tray onto his desk, making space and causing a few metal plaques to slide off the side.

"Madara-sama," she said coolly, picking up the items. "I have nothing to say."

Carefully choosing not to meet his eyes, Loreli tossed the passes back onto his desk. "I will take my leave."

…She could almost feel the intensity of his gaze burning into the back of her neck.

"You are leaving with that?" Madara asked her, voice light and mocking.

She stopped.

"If it's simply a brief visit to the nearest town you want," Madara said mockingly, "You could have just asked."

Loreli turned around, taking the stolen pass out of her sleeve. She tossed it to the ground. "Forget it."

"Ah-ah." Madara cut off her escape route, leaning back with arms folded against the door to his office. "You will listen to me."

…He lifted her chin up with two fingers.

"It doesn't matter where you escape to," Madara informed her smoothly, arching his long arrogant eyebrows. "I will _find you."_

"Madara-sama, do you mind?" Loreli asked him calmly. "I am trying to storm off."

That coaxed a frown out of him.

"Now listen-"

He caught her glancing musingly at the window.

"Girl!"

Madara had to grab her by the waist, forcing her into a seat. His hands clamped her arms down to the armrests.

"Ah." With a snide twitch of his majestic black mane, the dark-clad shinobi asked, "Now will you stop acting childish?"

She flexed her hands, but it was a token gesture of resistance. When it came down to physical strength, he would always overpower her.

"I am listening, Madara-sama."

…

She waited, impassive.

…And waited…

Madara rounded irritably towards the door.

"Izuna, get _the hell away_ from the damn door!"

…If it weren't for the door being shut, she'd imagine she would have heard Izuna curse under his breath.

Uchiha Madara turned back to her, cool and arrogant all at once.

He leaned down, speaking close with his hands resting on the armrests.

"I will make a compromise," Madara said, quirking a thin arrogant eyebrow down at her.

"Perhaps I've treated you too harshly," the Uchiha clan's leader admitted. Nonetheless, he did not make her an apology.

The next line seemed to have required tremendous thought and effort to dish out. She knew because there was a heavy pause before Madara finally spoke.

"I will change my ways," said Madara, punctuating each word as though he were speaking in an unfamiliar tongue.

"But," Madara added curtly, lifting up her chin, "I require you as my willing wife."

"I decline."

...Interrupting the suspenseful silence which followed, Loreli repeated, "I decline, Madara-sama."

She couldn't breathe. Time seemed to have ground to a halt. His slightest gestures could mark the end of her.

"Do you know what you're saying?" he asked her, voice smooth, with a hint of an underlying threat.

Abruptly, "Look at me!" Madara ordered, causing her eyes to snap up unthinkingly. It was a mistake.

His livid red gaze bled into her. Looking away was impossible.

"I see," Madara said smoothly, heavy-lidded eyes unblinking. "It is still not good enough? Heh." She saw him lick the corner of his lips. Voice light, he asked her mockingly, "So you think yourself too worthy to submit to me?"

She didn't reply.

"No, that's not it, is it?" Madara mused aloud to himself, idly brushing his thumb over her bruised lips.

"There was a man."

…Her heart did a painful lurch inside her chest.

"His eyes were always watching over you," Madara noted, with a wry curl at one corner of his lips. A drawn-out, suspenseful pause. "Because of him?" he inquired at last, quietly. Dangerously.

"You're saying…" a quirk of his long, arrogant brow "…that I can't compare to a common soldier?"

She was silent, her expression blank. She daren't even blink.

His intense stare lingered on her, scrutinizing. From this close up his presence was overwhelming. Absolute.

"Heh."

Madara drew away languidly, straightening to his full regal height.

"I don't think you quite understand yet," the tall shinobi observed, red eyes appraising down at her with indifference. "You don't have a choice either way." Madara returned to his desk, long ebony spikes rustling over his shoulders as he glanced sidelong at her. Arrogantly; "How you approach it is up to you."

…

The Uchiha clan's leader seemed to contemplate over her for a moment longer. He slanted his towards the door, almost a taunting gesture. "You may leave."

…She was still.

Then, very slowly and carefully, she spoke.

"…Madara-sama," Loreli said coolly, rising up from her seat, "You are not a woman. You wouldn't understand." A slow blink, voice quieting. "…Even if…things had not been the way they were…"

Uchiha Madara quirked a long, thin eyebrow at her response, but he remained otherwise motionless. Daring for her to go on.

"…I'd still have entrusted my heart to that common soldier instead of you." Her breath hitched in her throat. She sensed him approach her.

No, she couldn't panic. She couldn't cower. She was gambling with a trembling heart, but she absolutely…_could not have him _endangering someone who was dear to her, each time he sought a reason for her reluctance.

"You are a greater man," Loreli admitted. "A much greater man. I see you as a cruel man." A pause. "But you are also a just man. I see you as a selfish and impulsive man. But you…will also face up to responsibilities. You possess power, charisma, and a sharp perception that only comes around once in many decades."

A man destined to become a leader, given he had the ambition.

"…You are yet a very young man, and yet you have accomplished things even those with proper background can only dream of accomplishing. Your clansmen respect your wishes; I have never been on the receiving end of scorn whilst an outsider here. Perhaps you don't know even know the extent of your own influence, Madara-sama." Loreli allowed a small, wry smile. "The women have not stopped trying to get me to speak to you since the truth got out."

She grasped her arms, averting her gaze. "…Anyone will have to be blind to not see you as a responsible leader, a fearless warrior, and…" glance towards the door "a doting brother. Which is precisely why, Madara-sama..." Loreli dared not glance at the man beside her. "…Any woman not blinded by love can see…that she will never have any hold over you."

There would always be that thing before her; something of greater importance to him.

"I am not so romantic that I expect some man to give up his life for me, but, Madara-sama… You are the leader of a shinobi clan renowned across the nations. I am but a powerless girl whom you claimed on a whim."

"Can I…trust you, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked, unable to meet his eyes when his long, cool fingers gripped her chin and turned her head towards him. "Can I…expect you to not cast me aside once you tire of me? Can I not only expect you to refrain from hurting me, but to defend my honour as well?" A dry smile. "Can…I expect you to trust my words over the claim of a fellow clan member, Madara-sama?"

What kind of difficult position would that place him, their leader, in for favouring an outsider over someone of his own clan?

She went on, "Can I expect you to return each time you go off to war? Or can there be a future with us if Izuna-sama no longer plays the part of mediator?"

Things he probably never gave thought to. And why would he have? What did it matter to him what was to become of her…? She was only his doll. His toy. And whatever child she bore him, if she bore him one, what kind of future would her child have, if for the longest time Uchiha Madara had not desired any children? She could not-…

_-she could not put a child of her own through the same fate she had lived._

Her arms twitched involuntarily. She didn't need to go on with the list. Loreli regained her bearings, cool and elegant when she finally looked up at him. She asked him, "Madara-sama…do you…truly understand what you are asking of me?"

His red eyes, piercing red eyes which slanted exotically at the corners, bore down at her.

His willing wife, was it?

That was laughable. If she were ever to agree to his request… Not just her life, but her heart… _She'd be completely reliant on a man she could not have any influence over._

…Loreli averted her gaze, allowing herself a small, wry smile. Because, ultimately…

…a woman would want to know if she could come between a man and his work and kin.

"…You have no answer for me, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked, her expression blank. She glanced back and met his searching gaze, tracing her eyes over the sharp lines of his handsome face.

A strong kunoichi perhaps. Or perhaps a devout young woman. Someone who could withstand or could overlook some of these things. But she… She, who was already in love with a man; a lesser man, yes…but a man who had been willing to live his life for her…

She could not make such a sacrifice for another man whom she could not love.

"Madara-sama," Loreli began, calmly, "if you cannot even answer that…" and was interrupted when he spoke, his voice smooth and quiet.

"Are you done?"

Her words faltered immediately.

Loreli stared, transfixed, as Uchiha Madara leaned down to her eye-level.

He arched a long, mocking eyebrow. Arrogantly, the tall shinobi asked her, using a jerk of his head for emphasis, "Is that all?"

She was motionless, frozen.

His dark lips set into a thin, tight line.

"Get out."

* * *

…His name was Uchiha Murata. Black hair kept up in a high ponytail, ends reaching down to the rim of his high-collared shirt. A young man; his clean, pleasing features not yet worn from battle. Each time he caught her gaze he would shut his eyes as if he were reminded of something he felt ashamed of.

…She supposed she hadn't been entirely fair towards him. But what could she do? He just happened to also be the unfortunate shinobi who had walked in on her indecent state when she had requested for assistance earlier. Speaking to him would be quite awkward.

That and, Loreli wasn't in the mood for conversation. She'd been breaking out in cold sweat wave after wave ever since she left their leader's office. What if Madara knew she meant to divert his attention away from Katamori? What if he had been offended? What did his reaction at the end mean? She was afraid… She was afraid. Yes, she was afraid. She wasn't sure what it was, but something…

Something felt horribly wrong.

"My lady," Murata's voice brought her back to reality. Loreli looked down to see that she had spent the past few minutes trying to get the gloves on reversed. She did a double take.

"Un. Why am I-…?"

"Izuna-sama," her newly assigned guard replied, "thinks my lady should get some fresh air. Madara-sama had always stated that any woman who is to be his wife needs to mind Mishura while he is away from the stronghold."

Loreli tugged on the thick leather glove slowly. "…Will you translate that, to something more applicable to me perhaps?"

"In the case she should ask for a reason," Murata said in monotone, quoting Izuna directly, "Let her know that the single fastest way for Madara to track someone down is by falcon."

…

What's this? He is hinting that she should be bribing a bird?

Loreli let out a soft sigh, reaching out a hand for the reins. "Nevermind. Hand her to me."

She almost didn't know what hit her. In a dark flurry of feathers, the falcon was off beating her great wings down the hallway, leaving Loreli feeling as though her arm had just been pulled off. How did a small thing like that possess so much strength?

"My lady," her guard started to say.

"I'm fine." Loreli got up from her hands and knees. "A bit preoccupied." She dusted herself off. "…Is it fine for that bird to be flying around freely?" she asked.

Instead of answering directly or offering to retrieve the falcon, Uchiha Murata informed her while staring straight ahead of him, "So far there has not been a single woman who had managed to tame Mishura."

…

"…I see."

So this, too, was some form of test?

A loud crash. Coming from the same direction she had came from not long ago.

Mishura had ravaged her room while waiting, and was making off with her pet lizard when Loreli arrived.

"Oh, _but—!"_

It was no use. Seeing that the doorway was now blocked, Mishura scuttled aside a few steps with her great wings spread out in balance, and then flitted through the open window in a rush of wind.

…

Incredulous, Loreli went to the window and looked out.

…The bird didn't happen to diet on lizards, did she?

"My lady," her shinobi guard inquired after her as she eased herself through the window.

"I'll acknowledge her challenge," Loreli said.

…It was late afternoon by then, the white light from the sun beaming down mercilessly. Loreli shielded her eyes.

No falcon in sight.

…

"Down on the ground, by the third tree to your left."

But of course, she had been so intent on searching above the horizon line that she missed seeing Mishura sitting there on the ground, until Murata pointed her out.

The bird was stock still as Loreli approached her, dangling the much agitated lizard from her beak. Then, just as Loreli neared, Mishura suddenly scurried away on two legs—surprisingly fast for a creature not even half her size.

…

"Really now…" Loreli went to the base of the tree Mishura had decided to camp up in. She stared up contemplatively before rolling up her sleeves. "…Don't go away."

…

…It was in that way that she ended up still lodged among the topmost branches of the tree when Madara came to retrieve her at dusk.

That was when the shrewd falcon finally decided to stop _pretending _to be asleep, gliding down towards the Uchiha clan's leader in an easy spiral, the only thing which alerted Loreli to the shinobi's arrival.

She sighed inwardly and looked up to the sky, away from them.

He must have said something to Mishura. The falcon flew off.

"Planning to stay the night there?"

She spared a glance down at the long ebony-haired shinobi. His dark, veiled gaze sought up at her, waiting. She was of the uncanny way a predator would corner its prey.

That wearisome, mocking tone he always spoke to her with. Loreli looked back to the darkening sky. She might as well not even acknowle—

Without warning the tree shook and the branches gave away underneath her. A scene flashed before her eyes.

A swirl of green and gold. A loud rustling. And a young girl's scream.

"_Loreli!"_

She had forgotten how to breathe. Her entire body was still and stiff when her vision finally cleared up.

Uchiha Madara had her in his arms, his heavy-lidded eyes bearing down on hers with something close to resembling concern.

She didn't register it at first. But the steady fall of dry leaves and loose twigs clued her in. He had _caused _her fall.

…

"Oh my. Madara-sama," Loreli said solemnly, "has no delicacy when it comes to women."

She pushed against him, crudely freeing herself from his arms. His eyes had narrowed, but he thankfully decided to let her go.

Loreli glanced back at him, still in a half-crouching stance where he caught her fall. She swung around and made off.

"To be so brilliantly rejected," Uchiha Madara's low smooth voice drawled after her, almost betraying her into a jump. "It is a first time for me."

She seemed to have recalled what he was referring to in time.

…

"Heh." He was following her. The bastard. His long legs probably made it effortless for him to keep up with her from behind. "You're not going to comment?" Madara wanted to know. She didn't have to be looking at him to have recognized it as a taunt.

Much to her dismay, his strong arm encircled her waist, and then she was facing him. Immediately she placed her palms against his broad shoulders, but she couldn't budge. There was no freeing herself this time.

…

"Is it such an unacceptable offer?" Madara asked her lightly, arrogantly. The black-clad shinobi slanted his head to one side, diminishing the height difference between them. "I will let no harm come onto you," he told her calmly, with cool confidence. "I will let you have all that you desire." A smirk tainting the edge of his dark lips. She felt him lift her chin.

"All you need to do…" his long, visible eyebrow arched in emphasis "…is to stay by my side." Madara's veiled gaze beckoned to her…luring her in. Softly, "Acknowledge yourself as mine."

Her eyes were unflinching, adamant.

Loreli smiled. A small, cold smile.

"Then tell me, Madara-sama… What is it that I'm doing wrong?"

A frown. Madara's dark eyes hardened. His hands gripped her shoulders.

"Ah," the ebony-haired shinobi remarked drawlingly, "but I want to see that I can trust you." A snide twitch of his head; his long spiked mane rustled. "I want to see that you can leave the past behind you."

She blinked slowly, and found it easier if she just closed her eyes.

"No, is it still not enough?" Madara asked coolly, dangerously. She half expected him to shake her. He certainly sounded like he was capable. "Do you not understand that what I am offering you is more than everything a mere guard captain—what anyone in your past life can hope to offer?"

She pursed her lips.

"Can you not trust me to not hurt you again?" Madara demanded quietly, his curt tone not quite doing justification to his words. "Damn it, woman!" His words underlined with malice, his voice rising. "What the hell is it that you want!"

…She should want to hit him, if she had the power to.

What Loreli did instead was to look up at him calmly, asking, "…Am I supposed to fall in love with Madara-sama…or…only with the part of him that is good to me?"

The change was gradual, blood-curdling slow, as her words and their meaning sank in. She saw his expression solidify into that of a marble statue's. Cold and impassive.

He closed in. She edged back.

"Heh."

Strong fingers gripped her chin. "I won't take this from you," said Madara, imperiously.

"Whether you are my wife and the mistress of the clan, or simply my concubine," he informed her in an arrogant drawl, "is your choice. Think about your circumstance before you reject me outright."

He released her.

"Stop."

She paused, weighing out her options. Slowly, she turned back.

Uchiha Madara's back was to the horizon, his arms folded as he looked at her. He made an impressive silhouette against the setting sun.

"I am offering you an easy life. Will you not even consider?"

Oh, she might have laughed at the irony in his words. She would have, but… His expression was serious. Deadly serious. It commanded her to believe him.

"Heh." Again Madara scoffed, though it did not sound altogether convincing this time. "You will compare my nature to those pathetic commoners who rely on others to fight their wars?" A pause for response, his long eyebrow quirked in mock question. "Is it not enough if I were good to you?"

…Something in her throat. It bothered her.

"Then, Madara-sama," Loreli said coolly, before she even knew it. "…Why are you so obsessed over someone whom you consider as a pathetic commoner?" Her long lashes drooped down with her gaze and she waited. "Can you answer that?"

He was silent. Speechless. Ah, yes…unmistakably so. He could not provide an answer for her.

Loreli did not spare him a last glance when she swept away.

"…I see."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Hmm…so I lied. There are actually 3 reasons (and excuses) why Loreli refuses to accept him—…let me know if anyone needs clarification on these. When put together it's like…Madara has no chance at all o.O; Oh, the things I must make him do…


	18. Tempest III

**A/N:** I am still not satisfied with this chapter, main reason being I originally intended for Loreli to remain temperate for a while longer. It had taken me 7 rewrites and a few revisions, but I can't seem to do much better at my current skill level. So I decided not to delay any further, since it's pretty much only a stage-setting chapter anyway. Have the tables finally turned? Have they? Have they?

**cheeky half-demon:** Is Loreli going to get pregnant? Heh heh…Would I answer something like that?

**The SFH Team:** I am humbled. Allow me to answer your question for everyone at the end of this chapter…

In case I don't say it enough; love ya all, thanks for taking the time to comment and to make suggestions for me~ ^^ It makes me extremely glad to know there are people appreciating this story.

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**Till You Die**

17 – _Tempest III_

* * *

"Has it ever occurred to you, I wonder…that the woman has a brain?"

No doubt Izuna was amused by his failure. The younger man must be feeling quite triumphant over the fact that there _were_ women out there who looked beyond what was set right before them—a standard which Madara had always held his female admirers up to.

But now Madara wasn't liking it.

Not. one. bit.

"Hn. When will you start taking her seriously, my brother?"

…Izuna hiked an eyebrow at being ignored. Despite all his clinginess as a child, and being a constant source of irritation for Madara as an adult, the number of times his brother had ignored him could be counted on one hand.

With barely concealed mirth, Izuna inquired, "You're not sulking, are you?"

The pen paused in its track. Silent, Uchiha Madara glanced up from his work for the first time. "Sulking?" he asked, arching a long arrogant eyebrow.

Fingers drummed against the surface of his desk. He rose up.

-sheets of draft paper swiped sharply off his desk.

A long, suspenseful moment passed.

"I told her I will degrade her to a mistress if I have to," Madara told him suddenly, as though he had only just realized it himself.

Needless to say, the Uchiha clan's second-in-command recognized the implication straight away.

"Another rash action on your part?" Izuna noted with amusement. "There seems to be quite a few of those lately."

Sounds from outside the window.

…

The sun shone clearly amidst the morning sky.

As Madara watched, the girl lost her grip on the falcon's reins and fell forward on her hands and knees. With a sigh, the young woman got up. _"Again,"_ he heard her say to her guard.

"…_My lady, this is not how it works…"_

"I suggest you don't waste your time sulking, brother mine," Izuna advised, fighting back a grin. "If she is anywhere as sharp as I suspect she is…" an arching of his dark, confident eyebrows "…she would already know you can't strip her of her title without going back on your word, now wouldn't she?"

…After a full three minutes of watching her getting literally dragged around by Mishura, Madara turned back to Izuna.

"Her repeated failures are what I'm meant to see?" Madara's arrogant drawl, his eyebrows arched.

Izuna chuckled in response. "Say, in a hypothetical situation, if she were to place you in a position where you would either earn the disapproval of the clan by keeping a respectable lady against her will, or you would break your word by releasing her—hypothetically—…what would you do, Madara?"

Something on his face must've induced Izuna to add yet again, "Hypothetically."

Darkly silent, Uchiha Madara gazed out. As if on cue, at that precise moment the young woman outside glanced to one side and met his eyes. She held them, her face a delicate, expression mask. Then, so subtle that he might've imagined it, a feather-light smile touched her lips. Loreli turned away, saying something to her guard. She did not glance back again, but left the area.

His hands gripped his folded arms in displeasure. Madara's dark eyes slimmed after her. Did she know? Had she really recalled the words he had spoken that night—the words which would render his threat to her void?

So had she been anticipating a game of bluff?

"Well?" Izuna prodded easily, reminding him of the question he left unanswered.

Madara looked irritably to the younger man who smiled back expectantly. He arched his long, arrogant eyebrows. "Then I suppose I have it in me to get on my knees and beg," sneered Madara, his sarcastic words laced with murderous intent.

A brief pause, as though he was actually entertaining the image in his head. Frowning, Madara distractedly wet a corner of his lips and inquired, dryly, "How long do you suppose she'd laugh?"

"Now why would you automatically assume-…" Izuna started to ask heartily, before he caught sight of Madara's darkening scowl "…-that laughing is the worst she can do?"

…It took a while before Izuna was able to peel himself off the floor.

* * *

…

"How is it…that she's obeying you so easily?" Loreli inquired blandly, watching as Mishura landed to perch on Murata's extended arm.

"Normally she wouldn't, my lady," her shinobi guard replied calmly. "If I may be so bold to say; I believe she is obeying me to spite the mistress."

"…Ah." She watched as he swung the falcon into flight again. He made it look so graceful, really.

…

That bird had something personal against her, obviously.

"A few years back the to-be leader found her at the base of a cliff while passing by in his training," Murata provided. "Mishura was a little more than a hatchling then, and had fallen from her nest. Even now you can observe that she tends to circle the skies counter-clockwise; her injured wing took time to mend."

…It was true. The falcon was circling overhead in a counter-clockwise direction.

Her shinobi guard added, explaining, "It is possible that Mishura sees Madara-sama as her natural parent. She is extremely jealous when it comes to his affections."

…

…Come to think of it, Izuna has had quite the handful with the falcon as well.

She glanced to the stoic shinobi beside her who did not return her gaze.

"It must be quite boring, isn't it? For a high-ranked ninja such as yourself to be assigned to me as a constant companion."

He did not gift her with a reaction. It appeared that the man was rather wary of her intentions, as well as he should be. She had grown accustomed to Uchiha Murata's long silences by then.

After a while, Loreli tried again. "…You remind me of him, a little bit. If he weren't the captain of the guards, I'd never have believed him when he—"

"My lady," Murata responded at last, absolutely deadpan, "I am forbidden to speak of the incident other than to reassure you that the matter had been resolved. Any further mentioning will be going against the orders."

…

…Well…she didn't think it would be easy. Nevermind. It wasn't as if she were truly interested in getting involved.

Loreli spoke, changing the subject. "For a little while…may I be by myself?"

He nodded once. She watched him take a step back before he vanished completely. There was no way of telling if he was actually gone, or if he had just hidden himself away.

She rubbed the back of her neck, craning it to look up as she waited.

Mishura swooped down, and, seeing that Murata was gone, fanned her great wings abruptly and opted to land in a nearby tree instead. She remained there, head averted to one side and ignoring the approach of the young black-haired woman.

"…Come here," Loreli beckoned, lifting a gloved hand.

No reaction.

"I…am not going to take your Madara away from you. Come here…"

Mishura rested her head back and pretended to sleep.

Loreli smiled to herself, for that was a sign that the falcon was listening—listening to and understanding her words.

She spoke up at Mishura. A knowing smile. "In fact…I could use your help."

* * *

The light from the oil lamp was flickering out. Loreli wasn't sure if that was what had woken her. She shivered involuntarily and felt the edges of the books lying stacked beneath her numbed arms. So she had given into exhaustion again. A quick glance at the high windows told her that it was long past nightfall. Missing dining hall on two consecutive evenings. Ah, she could just picture their leader's cold, silent fury.

She had been feeling the back of her seat in the dark, trying to find where her shawl had drifted off to.

The sudden and unexpected illumination of the room caught her off-guard. She froze.

Uchiha Madara was seated across from her, his long legs crossed before him. He snuffed out the match between two fingers, slanting up a long, thin eyebrow in askance.

"Better?"

Long spiked mane framed the sides of his face, the ebony black gleaming ever so slightly in the lamp light, contrasting against the ivory of his skin. Against her will, her eyes were drawn to the way the light danced on his slightly parted lips above an angular chin.

Loreli blinked, lifting her gaze up to his intense, exotically slanted eyes.

It had been three days since she'd last seen him this close. His appearance always came as a bit of a shock. Ah, and to think that the first time she'd seen him, she had thought—no, she still thought him handsome, oh, devastatingly handsome. But even then, the dark aura which exuded from this man…had been alarmingly menacing.

…And now she was potentially bound to him until the day she died. Solely because _he_ would have it so.

"Heh." A light smirk curled his lips. Madara's unblinking, watchful gaze weighed heavily upon her. She realized she had been speechless all this while, like some small cornered animal.

As if having had read her mind, the tall black-clad shinobi leader quoted his own words, "I, Uchiha Madara, take this woman as my honoured wife, the mistress of this clan…" He uncrossed his long legs and rose from his seat. Loreli felt her fingers flinch slightly as though she'd been dealt a physical blow.

"…And as long as I am in power, _so shall she remain."_

A condescending silence.

"…What about it, Madara-sama?"

Her voice was level, but he did not miss the gentle fluttering of her lashes as though it was an effort to hold his gaze. Uchiha Madara had never found it strange that she could hold her ground and talk back to him; there _were_ ignorants in the world who didn't know better. What he found curious was that somehow she could manage to remain civil through all this. She didn't cry. She didn't scream. She didn't raise her voice towards him and only spoke her contempt when he pressed it out of her.

The blood of queens, Izuna said? Heh. This woman?

Instead of going to her like she might've expected, Madara sauntered towards the doors, reclining against the frame in a taunting manner.

"You'll not be rid of me whether I like it or not."

Loreli pursed her lips at his words, said with such finality. The meaning behind his position by the exit was clear.

He wanted the matter settled right there and then.

Her gaze drooped down for a second. Loreli met his eyes with a veiled expression. "…Is that your answer, Madara-sama?"

He watched her silently, a frown beginning to form on his arrogant brow.

She slipped him a small, cryptic smile.

"…It is not good enough."

It took a moment before her words fully sank in. Uchiha Madara felt his eyes widen in disbelief. She _dared_—

She moved before he gave reaction, rising elegantly to a stand.

"Madara-sama," she said, her voice light and airy, "Surely you didn't think I'd fall for such a weak proposition."

Mocking tone. "Ah, so you will fight me till the bitter end?" Madara wanted to know. "Even when you know that any further resistance is pure stubbornness on your part?"

But she wasn't even listening.

Yawning a bit, the young woman stretched her arms. Then she approached him, rubbing her eyes. He saw that she meant to walk past him regardless if he would let her or not.

Keeping a tight rein on his darkening temper, Madara placed himself before her. "Listen to reason," he commanded curtly, dangerously.

Step.

Something, Madara noted. Something about that line made her stop short. A subtle yet momentous change.

Reason…he said?

Though a faint smile graced her lips, the eyes which peered up at him…were surprisingly devoid of all warmth.

"Ah, why yes, Madara-sama," Loreli replied calmly, in a pleasant soft voice. "Allow me to _reason _myself into being in love with a man who cannot acquire a woman without the use of force." A gentle giggling, she dared that even in the deadly tension which followed her words. She added softly, punctuating each syllable, "It will only take me till the day I die."

He held back. Ah, how Madara would have torn down the wall behind him, but he held back. Instead, he folded his arms and waited for his Sharingan to deactivate itself. She was provoking him on purpose, heh. He would not allow himself to get sucked into her pace, not this time.

Before she could move away, he took a step closer, bending himself down to her eye-level. Long ebony hair tumbled forward and obscured one eye. In a soft, suggestive voice Madara reminded her of what she had obviously overlooked. "You weren't too keen on rejecting me when, ah," Madara quirked a long, mocking eyebrow, "when you didn't have full rein on your rationalization abilities."

…

…Her long lashes drooped to veil her eyes. Loreli rubbed the back of her neck wearily. She had placed much strain on it by gazing up at the sky too often the past three days. But of course, the action was to give herself time to regain control of her facial expressions. She knew what he was referring to as well as she knew she couldn't find a rebuttal to that.

However…he thought it was wise to bring that up? A man who wasn't ashamed to admit that he had taken advantage of her while she was drunk?

For the second time that night she felt a chink in her glass mask. An almost tangible crack in her long-practiced endurance.

"…You're right, Madara-sama," Loreli replied with a sigh that sounded feigned, "…I do seem to recall something as traumatic as that."

Hinges rattled and a metal bolt rang against the floor. The sound had been near deafening. He left a sizable indent in the center of the heavy wooden doors, the paint chipping off.

"_Sit down,"_ Madara commanded coldly. He arched his long, arrogant eyebrows, daring her to defy him.

She backed down. Carefully, the girl went back to her original position behind the table, only looking at him when she stopped. She did not sit.

"Why do you insist on pain?" Madara asked lightly, voice cool and deliberate. "This whole matter can be settled so easily, if only you'd-"

"Indeed…" Her deep brown eyes locked with his. Already Madara knew he wasn't going to take well to her response.

Slender fingers trailed the surface of the table. "Nowhere in your vow did you state that you cannot send me away."

"…How about it, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked lightly. A small, cold smile. "I will be your wife only in name. I will do naught to damage your reputation. I can even promise that I will never lay eyes on another man."

She blinked when he went towards her with sound, deliberate steps. As he neared, her courage seemed to have crumbled momentarily and she stepped back. He started to round the table between them. She went the other direction.

Uchiha Madara's dark eyes narrowed at her action. With one hand he lifted the table _clean away_, sending it to the side where it landed against a shelf, making a loud impact before tipping over to its side.

A moment of stunned silence.

She recovered.

Loreli let out a small sigh. A helpless shrug of her shoulders. "Ah, Madara-sama," she said, shaking her head lightly from side to side "…It's such a shame that there are others who will see you as a violent young man." She raised the back of one hand to her lips; a pretty, soundless laugh.

"…_Because that will keep you from a lot of things in life."_

…

He endured the provocation. Wetting a corner of his dark lips, Madara cast his focus away to one side, restless, until he regained composure.

He turned to her, quirking a mocking brow. "So you think you have nothing more to lose." He didn't seem to bother to make that a question.

"Heh." A cruel smirk tugged at the corner of his dark, lush lips. "Your pride," Madara listed, bringing himself closer, "your dignity, even your will…" He lifted up her chin, musing darkly as he gazed down upon her. He leaned down, speaking next to her ear. A soft, sinister promise. _"I can take it all away from you."_

Her pulse raced beneath his fingertips. She was not confident as she struggled to present herself as. Far from it.

Yet, he was not surprised to hear her speak up after a long pause.

"…How unfair, Madara-sama," Loreli said lightly, carefully. "To handicap me now would be to render your challenge void, wouldn't it?"

Madara looked to her sharply. She had sounded suspiciously like she was on the verge of tears.

She didn't seem to appreciate his scrutiny. She attempted to avoid his gaze, only to feel his hands hold up the sides of her face. The action caused her to flinch and to pale perceivably.

It appeared that she had taken his words in their most literal sense. Ah, Madara could just imagine the kind of horrendous thoughts that must be causing her such distress. And there he was, mulling over how to proceed when she spoke.

"Will you not unhand me?" Loreli inquired. "Should Madara-sama have a sense of honour, then he will not touch me so long as these 'trials' are ongoing."

…

"You're a stubborn wench," the tall, dark-clad shinobi leader conceded smoothly after endless moments, his jaw tightening in displeasure as he released her.

…

"…I, am the stubborn one, Madara-sama?" she asked lightly in passing. "Well…one of us will be right."

He spun on her, retorting with a snide twitch of his head, "_You know_ your situation is only bleak as _you insist_ on making it out to be."

"…Even though…I have said that I would have Madara-sama regret the decision to keep me as wife?"

Dark eyes slimmed at the daring reminder. Madara stepped towards her.

"If you will not send me away from your side, Madara-sama," she let him know, smoothly"…there is still…one. other way."

He stared at her, hard, trying to decipher her expression. What could she possibly—…? Madara's eyes widened a fraction.

"Madara-sama's word binds him to me, why, only so long as he remains in power."

He gripped her arm then, and was this close to shaking her in his rage. As it were, he could see the wince of pain she was biting back.

"You are bluffing," Madara accused her quietly, hardly able to contain himself. Yet, that resolve snapped as his next sentence rose in volume, nearly to that of a bellow. "You will not go that far!"

Against all reason, his hold slackened as soon as she touched his hand as though the unexpected contact scorched him. Her thoughtful eyes looked up at him guardedly.

…But she had it in her, didn't she?

He was confronted by the cold, disquieting truth.

She was not as innocent as her outward appearance suggests. She had already confirmed that when she had tried to make off with a pass from his desk—a pass which would've symbolized his permission for her to exit the stronghold. This woman…

"…_will either make a great man…_" Madara recalled Izuna's exact words.

"…_or destroy him."_

…Whatever the expression was on his face, she seemed to be vaguely amused by it. A small, knowing smile. She dusted off her shoulder before gliding her way to the doors. "Perhaps Madara-sama should have found out what kind of person his bride-to-be truly is before agreeing to a marriage."

So easily he could stop her from leaving. To think that she could walk out on_ him _after the unforgivable things she'd just said. But Uchiha Madara only crossed his arms and stared after her with a grim, ominous presence. Ah, if he dared to touch her right now… _There's no telling what he might do._

"That much."

She paused at the sound of his cold, hostile voice, her hand on the door.

"You hate me that much? Enough to gamble with your own life?"

He saw her gaze back at him, her face solemn. A slow, serene blink and a faint curl of her lips, though it might have been a trick of light. Then, her lips moving just barely enough for him to read, she mouthed him the words before leaving him, frozen rigid, to ponder them by himself.

…

'_I will see you down in hell.'_

* * *

**...**

**And an Important Author's Note:**

In a review from the previous chapter, I've been asked a -gasp- taboo question for writers: will Loreli and Madara make it through alright?

Hohoho…This story's directed at a mature audience after all, so I trust whoever's heeded the warnings I've put up will be able to handle all the angst ;)

Okay, I'll be serious. Allow me to answer this in the least spoiler-like way possible:

Yes, I _am_ following the canon plotline, and…

I am not a predictable writer.

…?

If you can put your trust in me, then I will not disappoint you. That is the best reassurance I can offer ;)


	19. Tempest IV

**A/N:** And another difficult chapter to write. This time because I originally intended _Madara _to remain indifferent for a while longer. Bah, my awkward planning.

**

* * *

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**Till You Die**

18 – _Tempest IV_

* * *

She couldn't sleep. Certainly, the kind of pressure presently burdening her shoulders would cause any pensive woman to lose a few hairs.

She'd lost a lot of hair.

Sighing, Loreli turned again to face the wall, hoping that her haunt would leave her if she'd just endure long enough.

…

It can't be helped.

She got up from her bed, taking the covers with her.

Mishura was outside her window, sharp talons making a terrible screech each time they scratched against the glass.

"Well?" Loreli prompted. Thus began their staring contest which spanned several seconds. At last she couldn't help but to glance down at the small, lifeless rodent lying outside on the windowsill.

That was the excuse her guard, Murata, used to not intervene on her behalf. She was starting to question whether the outwardly nonchalant shinobi actually held a grudge towards her. He had tried to explain that the falcon was only offering tribute as a way to show her newfound respect, but Loreli wasn't so sure. She was getting rather wary of dead mice and lizards coming flying through her window in the middle of the night.

Looks like keeping her window shut wasn't going to make a difference. There would be no decent rest for her again tonight.

"…Do you really hate me that much…or are you just lonely? …Right, watch out for the—"

Heedless of her warning, the falcon charged recklessly on and knocked every single item off her desk, even spinning around to whack one book that she missed. Said much about the improvement in their relationship.

With a sigh, Loreli eased back onto her bed.

"I've told you already; that is not some kind of genjutsu. That is called a mirror, and your master would be very worried about you…!"

…

…She pulled the covers over her head.

Whatever.

* * *

"The first level of the Sharingan, marked by the awakening of the first tomoe, grants its user the ability to recognize, copy, and thus predict attack patterns and jutsu—basically, a supernormal enhancement of the user's visual memory, dynamic visual acuity, and visualization abilities. An Uchiha shinobi at this stage may, given that conditions are optimal, memorize and reproduce anything that is shown him, if he already possesses the ability to."

"The second level of the Sharingan, with the emergence of the second tomoe in the eye, grants its user the ability to see the world in chakra levels. An Uchiha shinobi who has mastered this stage should be able to identify opponents by the colours of their chakra—their unique chakra signatures. Given that the opponent is careless, a Sharingan user will also be able to distinguish the real body from the clones simply by differentiating the level of chakra each one has."

Here, she paused, tapping her shoulder with the furled notebook in her hand.

"How light-sensitive are your eyes?" Loreli thought to ask.

The head medic turned over a page and did not look up or reply.

She glanced down at her notebook with a questioning brow. "Because this does sound like those tomoes are extra pupils to allow in more light."

…

…Without glancing her way, Uchiha Ingra spoke for the first time since she had begun.

"And?" he asked with his customary indifference, voice cool. "What about it?"

What about it?

"Ah…I just…I've read before, that motion and colour perception has to do with light," she admitted, a tad hesitant due to her lack of knowledge in the area. "No, nevermind."

She looked to see his pale blue eyes appraising her, and felt suddenly self-conscious.

The Uchiha clan's head medic turned his attention back to his work.

"It is a bit late for you," he said simply.

…

…Loreli studied his profile view for a moment longer, surprised. She knew what he meant. A medical ninja required intensive training from a very early age to be able to achieve the intricate control over chakra that was needed for performing operations. But she was surprised that he'd even considered it.

"At the emergence of the third tomoe, the user is granted the ability to control his eyes to the extent where he can manipulate, distort, and reflect any light that he has access to." A mirror, she wondered? It'd be a fitting metaphor, seeing that their eyes copied anything placed in front of them.

"Also at this level, chakra perception has sharpened so much that any movement by an opponent will have become readily visible. An experienced Uchiha shinobi is capable of casting illusions and hypnosis by using only his eyes, and is able to follow the movement of chakra at any given speed."

She stopped here. All the manuscripts she had studied had pretty much told her the same.

Loreli ran her fingers through her hair, pacing.

She didn't understand. Was she still missing something?

Her gaze flickered over the shelves.

"…Isn't there a fourth level to the Sharingan?"

Nowhere did she find anything that described what she thought she had seen take place in _his_—Uchiha Madara's eyes—that time Izuna had taken her to the training field to see him. Perhaps she was mistaken?

As much as she hated to admit it, Loreli was beginning to feel panic. There wasn't much time left.

She couldn't stop pacing.

…

"My lady," Ingra finally chose to interrupt, setting down the scroll in his hand. He looked to her with his steady blue gaze. "You think this will do?" the tall regal man asked, more of a comment than a question.

She returned his gaze.

"You have read nothing aside from what there is on the clan of Uchiha."

Ah. "Because that will be what he tests me on," Loreli replied. She gave him a small, wry smile. "…I am confident."

He watched her, without the least bit of reaction, as she approached and sat herself down on the table beside him.

"Men wield swords to conquer," she said. "Women use feminine wiles."

Slowly, she crossed her legs before her, drawling, "He's no exception to the rule." A quirk of her lips. "I'm irresistible, don't you see?"

She'd think that he'd at least give a reaction to the latter part of her statement.

"You are well set against accepting the role of his wife," the head medic observed instead, voice nonchalant. "Yet you were willing to accept becoming his mistress." A look of appraisal her way. "Normally, it would be the other way around."

…Ha. Loreli examined her nails contemplatively. He speaks right. Normally, wouldn't anyone prefer the higher ranked position? But…there was one grave difference.

She looked to the wall before her. It was a moment before she replied.

"…Honestly," Loreli said wearily, turning her head slightly to give him a sidelong glance, "I think we women don't value our own body as much as the men who adore us."

…She looked away, letting out a slow breath. Her words were heavy. "…The body…is just a tool. It would've been only a matter of time."

So easily she could've become the concubine of a visiting lord. She had no power of her own to decline. If it weren't for Yuzuzu-hime's favour. If it weren't for the fact that her mother had been a concubine of the feudal lord.

_If it weren't for her mother's sacrifice that he felt indebted to._

…

"…A mistress does not need her patron's trust, only shelter and company."

She glanced to the white-shirted man next to her and asked with a light, mirthless smile, "You understand better now, Head Medic?"

…

"Certainly," the man replied coolly, his pale blue gaze resting on her. "A person who has felt betrayed by someone she loved as a child will be reluctant to form that kind of attachment again."

She drew in a slow breath, easing away from the table.

"I can see I shouldn't attempt disagreeing with you," Loreli said with a hint of amusement. "And I am tired."

"You'd rather close off your heart than to listen to his side," his calm voice said after her. "How different does that make you from a coward?"

She stopped.

…A long silence stretched out.

…

"…Wait a minute…" Loreli turned back to him, slowly, with her arms crossed lazily before her. Her voice light and smooth, she asked, "All of a sudden…the villain in this story…" a delicate quirk of her eyebrow _"…is me?"_

Was he not forgetting something perhaps? Was she not justified to feel this way after all that she had been put through?

"Your circumstances were certainly less than desirable before, but that has changed now, has it not?" Uchiha Ingra calmly pointed out to her. "Surely my lady is not expecting too much. You cannot accept his honest efforts?"

...

"Ingra-san," Loreli said smoothly, although she was experiencing quite the opposite inside. A small, wry smile. "…That is women."

"In any case," she added pleasantly on her way to the doors, "Not as long as I remain a prisoner."

A break sounded appealing. Yes, something to keep herself awake.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Loreli said at the door. "I am going to vent."

* * *

She seemed to be awfully idle for someone in her situation, Madara thought darkly. The black-clad shinobi leader, on the other hand, was surprised to find how little time he had to do this: to simply pass time watching his clansmen go about their tasks.

…

A few minutes ago she had been beating her carpets so hard that anyone who passed by had sneezed. Now she was sweeping the feathers off of the stone tiles, causing a dust cloud large enough to send people away coughing. Not immune to his presence, no. Every so often she would turn to the Uchiha women with her and inquire with a frown, things like, "Is it staring at me again? …It's still there isn't it? …I can _still _feel its eyes on me."

Ah, she was rude to him. She refused to acknowledge him with a glance. But of course, the truth regarding their relationship was out. She no longer had any reason to _pretend. _

He watched her, and he couldn't help but wonder if this was how that guard captain of hers looked after her. Day after day. A woman he adored but could not touch—or was that how it was like? Madara felt his jaw clench and his eyes slim in displeasure. Across the hall, the small delicate female tensed as though she had _sensed _the animosity burning into her back.

…Her hair was only a bit finer, and shone more under the sunlight compared to that of an Uchiha's. Her eyes did not meet the black obsidian, but they were deep enough; a dark brown which leaned towards red. It was simply her height and her pureness of skin which set her apart from a woman of the clan.

It _irked_ him each time he made that comparison. Her structure and her height fell short of the standard of a warrior race, making her notably the most fragile-looking woman in the hall; a trait which did not please Madara at all. Her skin was fair, but not just the type of fairness found in many young Uchiha before they started on a path of war. Hers bespoke of a lineage which never met drought or scorching sun. He recalled, too, how easily her skin can bruise; how little protection it gave its owner. If she was not originally from the Fire Country, then where?

The fact that he knew nothing, could ascertain nothing about her, had never bothered him before this. In Uchiha Madara's eyes she had never been more than just a lowly palace servant. Her past and her abilities have had nothing to do with him. Right from the beginning he had considered her inferior to him—to the rest of the bloodline, for that matter.

Why did it seem to matter now? Because he was starting to acknowledge the slight possibility that he might have not treated her as a husband should his wife? She had not wanted him from the start. He had never made an effort to win her over. To him, she was a woman who had been made his possession, and the sooner she came to accept that fact, the better it would be for her. He would give her all the influence he had to offer, and in return, she need only obey him. No more and no less.

Things were different now.

…

'…_I will see you down in hell…' _the cruel words she had mouthed so soundlessly to him replayed themselves inside his mind repeatedly. _A heart for a heart,_ she meant to tell him.

This was not what he wanted.

Madara's heavy-lidded eyes followed her as she went to exchange her broom for a mop.

Ah, he could just see it now: the small, knowing smile on her lips when she tells him, 'Perhaps Madara-sama should have found out what type of person his bride truly is…_before he consented to wed her.'_

…

The young woman in question had actually been humming a little song when a passing Uchiha woman slipped on the smooth tiled floor and fell. In horror, the clan mistress watched as the other woman slipped again on the wet surface, knocking over the bucket of water. At that point she had hurried over to help the other up, only to fall down spectacularly as the slippery tiles disagreed with her.

She didn't seem to realize whose hand was held out to her until she reached back to grasp it.

Her dark-lashed eyes peered guardedly up at him.

She pulled at her hand. When that action only made her slide in a half circle, winding up against his leg, she decided it'd salvage her dignity more if she'd simply let him help her to her feet.

Out of spite he wrapped an arm across her midsection, below her breasts, to lift her up. Much to her chagrin.

"Now that you've interrupted our work," she remarked, wringing the water from her dress, "what do you want?"

He frowned down at his reflection on the floor. Madara couldn't remember the last time he'd seen it so polished.

"I'm sure," Madara folded his arms with an arrogant drawl, "that the women can manage someone else to replace you. Perhaps someone a little…" a long eyebrow arched up "less _enthusiastic._"

He saw her jaw go slack as though that remark offended her. A small frown. "Well, I'm sure," she drawled coolly, "they would much prefer for me to not leave off halfway through." She glanced pointedly to the women, who all took the cue to become completely oblivious to what was happening.

It was a look of utter betrayal she gave them when Madara took her firmly by the wrist and tugged her along. She didn't protest when he lost patience and picked her up in his arms. Not after landing on her knees and getting dragged across the wet tiles when she first resisted.

If she were a kunoichi of the clan-…no, if she were anyone else. Uchiha Madara wouldn't be caught dead carrying her like this. He made a lot of allowances for his delicate wife. This was the way she'd repay him? Madara's jaw tightened as the anger crept back.

This was the woman who had held him so heart-wrenchingly close that night when she couldn't seem to recall her reasons for hating him. Was she capable? From the first time she had met his eyes and had tauntingly told him that she had poisoned his cup, Madara had known that this was a woman who donned many masks; a woman far from innocent. But was she capable of carrying out such a threat?

"Do you want to know?" her calm question interrupted his thoughts. He gazed down to see her watching him with half-lidded eyes, her lashes providing a dark veil. A faint, knowing smile. She repeated, quieter this time, "Do you want to know?"

Uchiha Madara all but dropped her from his arms. She had foreseen this happening, landing steady on her feet. Then she reached back and yanked loose the hem of her long skirt which had caught in his arms. But not before he caught sight of her legs.

"What are you-…?" She sounded scandalized when he went down to lift up the bottom of her dress. The intent stare he gave at the purplish red patches running along the front of her legs caused her to trail off. Madara _knew_ she bruised easily, but _this?_

…

The young woman blinked in realization. "…Ah, as much as I'd like to hold this against you," she commented in monotone, brushing down her skirt, "This isn't what you think it is." When he didn't rise up, she added, "Your minion, Mishura, was most convinced that I would be able to fly if she'd just drag hard enough."

Two men passed by the front entrance, pausing in their conversation to look expressionlessly in their direction before moving on. She stiffened slightly and moved away as though she was embarrassed to be seen with him like this—_ashamed of him!_

"…I'm afraid I've not yet been enlightened to why I was called aside," she said with nonchalance. "…What is it that you want?"

Before, it was always 'Madara-sama' this and 'Madara-sama' that. She didn't bother to conceal her impatience with him any longer. Never had he thought that he might miss the sound of his name from her lips.

…She peered up at him guardedly when he stood, easily towering above her with his height.

No, not a guarded look. The skin beneath her eyes was several shades darker. The girl was struggling to stay awake.

"I want you to stop exerting yourself on this pointless dispute," Madara told her in a low but commanding tone.

Her charming eyebrows arched elegantly up. _"Oh,"_ she mouthed soundlessly. Then she made to walk off. "But," she chose to remind him blandly with a small helpless shrug, "This is the last day."

"I just gave you a chance to back out from your predicament," Madara stated incredulously. His voice rose to a snarl as he stared after her. "You think it's possible to memorize every single line of each scroll in the archives in one mere week!?"

It was impossible. Retaining detailed images in memory was feasible by the use of the Sharingan, but to have everything memorized _and_ comprehended within one short week-…it was _simply not done._ Two weeks was not enough, no-…two _months_ it had taken him to master everything in that room. Does she truly not get that his original intent had been to pressure resignation out of her?

She had stopped and was gazing back at him with a blank expression. Then she heaved out a small deliberate sigh, lightly shaking her head. "Madara-sama," she started to say, and paused as though she realized that she had just made a slip. She recovered smoothly with a shrug of her slim shoulders. "You don't attempt to reason with a woman who is grumpy from lack of sleep," she told him, turning away. "You will find that no sense will get to her."

In the next instant she had walked into him in her daze, sinking into his arms before fighting to right herself. Damned if he wasn't appalled by her fragility. If she were a kunoichi of the clan, he wouldn't be so agitated by her stubborn act of defiance. If she were a kunoichi, he wouldn't fear that she could break each time he touched her. No, if she were an Uchiha, Madara thought as he watched her push away from him, then he wouldn't be wondering _why_ he felt so opposed to parting with her.

Was he not_ repulsed_ by her weakness? _Angered _by her deceptive nature? She had fire in her, yet towards him she was cold as ice. Ah, if only she would be so vehement when defending him as she was in defying him; he wouldn't be able to ask for a fiercer woman. She was delicately built, yes; not at all how he liked his women. But she fit snugly in his arms with her small frame. When he carried her upright on his arm, she could wrap arms around his neck without hunching over. When she stood she could lay her head directly next to his heart. When he sat her down in his lap he could meet her eye to eye, and not with the tops of low-clad bosoms many fine kunoichi had tried to entice him with.

Little things which endeared her to him. He hadn't realized until then.

"…Worried?" she asked him, peering up at him with half-lidded eyes. Perhaps it was due to him being deep in thought before she spoke. Her question rang in his ears. Madara glanced down to the taunting quirk of her pale lips.

Worried? No, that wasn't all there was to it. But not in the way that she was thinking.

Strong fingers encircled her arms in a gentle but firm grip.

"Do not attempt something that you will regret," Uchiha Madara told her quietly, and that was as close as he had ever gotten to beseeching her with a request.

Her eyes drooped.

He felt her pull away, and with great reluctance, he let her go.

"…I learn to live with my regrets," she said lightly, devoid of expression.

Brown eyes looked calmly up at him.

"…_Can you?"_

* * *

**...**

**A/N: **-Drum roll- Next chapter is the chapter which most of you are waiting for. You will love it~ I am very excited myself xD


	20. His Galatea I

**A/N:** Felt like the longest chapter yet. But I say that for each new chapter.

I applaud you if you are one of the avid readers who actually _read _everything and not just skim over the wordy parts. You shall be much rewarded for your better understanding in future chapters.

* * *

**Till You Die**

19 – _His Galatea I_

* * *

She had already slept in. Hmm… Perhaps she should…speed up a little bit.

Loreli rubbed at the smudges beneath her eyes that were reflected in the mirror. Despite whatever thoughts there were, the sense of urgency simply wasn't present.

Lethargy does seem to make her bolder.

Stretching. Stretching's good. She made it a habit to not miss her morning stretching exercises if it could be helped.

Where were her sandals?

Splashing cold water on her face got her hair wet. Needless time was spent on re-combing her hair. How simply annoying. At last she gave up trying to rearrange it back to its natural state, using hair sticks to put her hair up for the first time since she had cut it short.

She let out a sigh, hands on her hips, looking around her room. What was it that she seemed to have forgotten?

Ah, right… She could be hours late for an appointment.

Oh no. That wasn't good.

…Perhaps a drink of tea wouldn't hurt; the energy-restoring one that the head medic was sympathetic enough to mix for her. Something about having a hot liquid in the morning always gets her blood going. Eh, she was already late enough as it is, a little longer wouldn't hurt.

It was an Uchiha woman she knew, an older woman graying at the temples, who burst open the door to her room.

"What are you still doing here?" the older woman demanded anxiously. "The men have been waiting for you since sunrise!"

Between coughs, Loreli managed to wheeze out an incredulous, _"Pardon?"_

* * *

She had some nerve.

Uchiha Madara was reclining back in his seat, long fingers drumming idly on the table before him.

Izuna, Izuna was perfectly fine with the delay. In fact, the only comment the younger sibling gave up till then was to say to him in amusement, "She doesn't seem to be very nervous over this."

He didn't know what Izuna was thinking, summoning the councilors in here with them. Was he seriously thinking of formalizing this event? The girl will surely fail!

Moreover, Madara had no doubt that her lateness was spawning questions in his men's minds, questions regarding whether he was truly capable of handling his wife.

_She was going to regret making a mockery out of him._

And to think he had wanted to make amends—_needed _to make amends, before it came down to this. He quite possibly couldn't do it now, when she openly mocked him; when in front of the handful of Uchiha shinobi he held in high esteem.

The clanswoman named Itoh opened the doors. Though she didn't speak, her arrival was announcement enough. Perhaps it was age similarity; his young wife had grown quite attached to the mute woman. Itoh bowed her head in respect and stepped aside, holding the door open for the mistress of the clan.

She was like a breath of fresh air. Always had been. There was something about her, something about her mannerism and her hesitant beauty that drew eyes to her, men and women alike. Even back in the place where she was found, in the courts which valued the appearance of fragility and delicate beauty, she must've been a rare flower. Unfortunate for her that those qualities—the unintentional drawing of attention and the fragility—were only looked down upon by ninja.

"My apologies for my tardiness," she said to the Uchiha men besides himself. "In my fatigue I've seem to forgotten that I am currently inhabiting the women's quarters." She shook her head as if laughing at her 'mistake'. "And Madara-sama felt it improper to send a man in there to fetch me." A rare, apologetic smile. "Had I known you were all here waiting, I would have been here much earlier."

She lied as easily as she breathed. Why would that surprise him? It only meant that she had learned early on that honesty and integrity mattered not in the environment from which she had came from; all that mattered there was how many people you could get to swallow your story.

Listen to him! Uchiha Madara gripped the edge of the table in displeasure, eyes darkening murderously. Unwittingly defending her? _Preposterous._

As if sensing the malice being glared her way, the young woman returned a look in his direction.

Her hair was pinned up with pretty—and very _un-_ninja like—ornaments, leaving only a few tendrils to cover her smooth, slender neck. The elaborate garment she wore swished against the floor as she turned to face him fully. It had been too long for her, possibly had been tailored for the height of an Uchiha woman, but she had made alterations to the skirt length and had deliberately shortened the sleeves by half. Truly, despite her slightly wearied appearance, she was a magnificent sight.

Anyone who had the nerve to walk into a room full of men who killed for a living while in her shoes, and to have none of her nervousness put on display, would make a magnificent sight.

"I'd have much preferred a much more…private audience," the young woman said to him. A small pause. "But then, those who are late can't complain."

"Sit down," Madara commanded in his authoritative tone. He didn't need reminder that she had deliberately kept him waiting. "Near all these men are the same ones who had accompanied me to your castle," said Madara, arching a long taunting eyebrow. "Even if you were to embarrass yourself, it would come as no surprise to them."

He'd thought that she would have defied him without fail, especially after that taunt he just made. If anything, she looked grateful to have been offered a seat.

…She glanced over at the row of seated shinobi by the wall, returning their stoic stares, unabashed.

"I don't suppose I need to be sitting behind a protective screen?" Her languid yet sarcastic comment to him.

She had only been within his presence for less than three minutes. Already the things she said were gnawing at him, for one reason or another.

"You are not a gentlebred lady who fears for her virtue," Madara replied curtly, eyes thinning in warning. "If you are so worried over losing face, why don't you apologize for their time beforehand?" he mocked.

Her pretty eyes rested on him blankly, sizing him up.

"So be it."

"If I may interrupt now," Izuna spoke up, actually surprising Madara. Izuna _rarely _remained silent at times like these. He had forgotten that his younger brother was still standing behind him.

"I am to clarify the conditions set down for this challenge," explained Izuna, his arms folded casually as he announced to everyone. "I believe the exchange was-…" Izuna tapped his temple with two fingers, recalling with an amused grin, "'Show me that you can familiarize yourself with everything and anything within this room and I will give you my respect'. The deadline was halved to one week, upon the mistress's request."

Izuna paused for confirmation from the young woman. "Am I correct?"

"…That is how it is," she replied.

"Then the questions will only pertain to facts, present time or historical, which answers can be found on a script within this archive. There can be no riddles, trickery, or unanswerable existential questions involved." Izuna quirked an eyebrow. "Regarding the outcome of this contest…" With a knowing curve on his lips, the Uchiha clan's second-in-command glanced to him.

"What do you mean, exactly, when you said 'respect'?" Izuna asked of him.

…

She averted her eyes while they waited, picking absently at a loose thread on her dress' sleeve.

What _had _he meant by he would respect her? In truth, he had not given it much thought.

Why the hell was Izuna taking this so seriously? The woman was about to make a fool out of herself!

"Izuna-sama," her sweet voice forestalled Madara's very forthcoming reaction. All eyes went to her.

"I have only one condition."

Madara clenched his jaw. Her condition for winning was to be set free, no doubt about it.

"Uchiha Murata," she said seemingly out of the blue, provoking a frown from him. "I want him."

Both Izuna's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Pardon?" he asked.

Uchiha Madara couldn't even _begin_ to describe what he was experiencing.

She didn't respond right away. Her eyes studied their ominously silent shinobi leader as though gauging his sanity.

"…I am aware that Murata is one of the best, which is why he has been assigned to guard me on his own." She looked to Izuna, saying to him, "I am also aware that he is directly under your jurisdiction." She smiled. "He is the shinobi who will be watching my every move in able to secure my safety. I want his loyalty for myself."

"If Murata is willing to accept," Izuna said pleasantly, "then I will of course have no objections. If that is your only condition-"

"Halt!" Madara snapped. He shot Izuna a speaking glance.

Placing one of the Uchiha's finest shinobi under her command? If she were to have him help her escape…

"Hn. I don't see a problem," Izuna remarked while grinning. "Murata is already responsible for the lady's safety and well-being. Losing track of either would…un…" he hiked a knowing eyebrow at the young woman across from him "…place him in a very difficult situation, you see?"

"I get it," she told him coldly.

A relieved smile. Izuna looked to Madara. "Are you ready to hear his conditions?" he asked her.

Silence.

Partially because Madara was not quite convinced she wouldn't sacrifice her guard for a chance at freedom. And partially because he no way of wording what he wanted while seated before the rest of the men.

Pathetic.

The great Uchiha Madara, needing to force acceptance from his wife via a challenge like this.

Utterly preposterous.

"Anything," she said unexpectedly, looking bored of the wait even though not even one minute had passed. "I'll give you anything. The sooner we start, the sooner I can get back to sleep."

Madara's eyes narrowed ominously. What game was she playing at?

From where did she conjure all of that confidence? It didn't make the least bit of sense.

He supposed he was about to find out.

"Continue," Madara said commandingly to Izuna.

"You have a choice," Izuna explained to the girl. "You can either choose to answer each and every one of his questions correctly within a timespan of half hour—with no more than one minute to ponder each answer; or you can choose to extend that timespan to an hour plus half, with the allowance of three misses and five minutes for pondering questions."

There was no hesitation. The young woman reached up and brushed back the loose tendrils of her hair away from her shoulders. "The less time this takes, the better."

Madara snapped his gaze to Izuna. A curt command. "Begin."

Izuna flashed her a smirk of approval. He picked up the hourglass lying on the table on its side. "This hourglass has been divided into half an hour. Until the sand runs out, you will answer each and every one of his questions correctly."

She closed her eyes briefly, curling up a tiny smile in acknowledgement. "Agreed."

Uchiha Madara reached over and lifted the hourglass to its rightful standing position.

As much as he was curious to know just how much knowledge she had acquired to give her such a confident outlook, he was going to end this straight off the bat. No matter how much effort she put into this for the past week, it wouldn't be good enough. He might as well spare her the embarrassment by posing her an impossible question right in the beginning.

"Heh. Very well then." Madara rose to a stand; a sleek, taunting stance. He slanted an arrogant look down at her seated figure. "Give me the names of every town and village marked on the map of Fire Country—_in order_, starting up at the northernmost point."

Beside him, Madara saw Izuna knead his forehead in exasperation.

…Her steady gaze assessed him.

"…You could have asked me anything regarding your own clan; of things I would be least familiar with; yet you'd ask me something like this?"

"One minute," he reminded her curtly, arching his long, mocking eyebrows.

She could bluff all she wanted, but he knew it was an impossible demand he asked of her. Not only were the settlement names marked on the map numerous, she also had to have the processing speed and the phenomenal visual memory required to place everything in order.

In short, she was already aware that this was well beyond her abilities.

"…Madara-sama," she sighed out with lowered eyes; a look of pure resignation, "…I am…"

"…_insulted."_

He did not even have time to feel confusion before she rose elegantly to her feet.

"Very well, if you insist," she said lightly, gesturing that he had better sit down, an action only Izuna paid heed to.

She met eyes with Madara, and a small knowing smile graced her lips.

"I will attempt to get through the entire list in less than half hour."

* * *

It hadn't even been ten minutes into her recital when Izuna had paused her, informing her that it was good enough.

She didn't just give the settlement names in proper order. With equal ease she was able to quote him the population size, annual income, and the feudal allegiance of each one.

What?

"Madara," Izuna's voice interrupted.

Madara realized that their eyes were all on him, waiting expectantly for his next question.

Light, mocking voice. "The alliances you just named," he said, carefully masking his incredulity, "Give me the description of the essential properties of their flags and their respective colours."

The last one had been answered with her unforeseen ability. Yes, that's what it was. It was not uncommon even amongst non-ninjas for a few select persons to have an extremely accurate visual recall. That must be why she had remembered everything on one map just by staring at it.

But this question was different. She couldn't very well recall something she had never seen: some manuscripts may provide a sketch of the flags, but the colours can only been found in textual descriptions. There was no way she could answer this question without careful examination of the text.

A delicate eyebrow rose up. "…What's this?" she asked with feigned curiosity. Her voice light and airy, she remarked, "Not going to tell me to list them in backwards alphabetical order?"

He returned her a cold, warning look.

She only smiled her faint, knowing smile and lifted her arms again.

The young woman liked gesturing with her slender arms. It seemed to help her remember easier while she spoke. But Madara hardly noticed the small details of her performance this time.

Immaculate. She went as far as to describe which feudal lord made which changes in the insignias, and what the colours chosen for their flags represent.

It was just as well that Izuna ended her response even earlier this time; Madara found he had to strain to be able to hear her words over the roaring in his ears.

"How!"

It was a quizzical, near scoffing look that she gave towards his loud demand.

Then she smiled.

Or as much as a smile as she'd ever given him. Uchiha Madara knew that he might as well be the sole person within the stronghold walls that she had never given a heartfelt smile to.

"Ah," she said in her light, singing voice, "Let me guess. You thought me but a simple palace servant."

He felt his eyes widen a fraction at her words.

"Well…" she continued, glancing over at Izuna. The younger brother took the cue lay the hourglass down on its side, pausing the sliding of sand. She looked back to the tall, long-haired shinobi standing, posture tense, across the room from her. "…You were right. I am a mere palace servant with no background and no connections."

A light, soundless laugh, as though she found her own joke amusing. Madara felt his jaw clench and his eyes narrow menacingly.

"But Madara-sama," she told him, unaffected, "You forget who exactly it was that I served under."

"…The sole heiress of one of the most powerful feudal lords in the Fire Country," she reminded him. "Yukino Touhito's only daughter, the princess Yuzuzu."

She didn't pause to see if he had begun to understand. The young woman began to circle idly around the room, reminiscing. She glanced back.

"You asked me if I thought it possible to memorize every single line of each scroll within this room in one week," she commented. A wry curl of her lips. "…I suppose Madara-sama never considered the slight possibility that I…may already know the majority of these texts by heart."

"You've seen it yourself, Madara-sama," she drawled nonchalantly, moving languidly from one side of the room to the other, arms folded beneath her chest as though to keep warm. "The princess was…extremely attached to me. Ever since she could remember, I was always there by her side. I was her closest confidante…her beloved friend…and if I were to have remained by her side…" she glanced back to him with a delicate eyebrow arched, completing, _"…her most trusted advisor."_

She spoke looking up at the wall, away from him.

"I have within my arsenal four different dialects and three other languages, all of which I can speak and write with fluency," she listed. "I was expected to know how to instruct every chore, I was expected to entertain guests, I was expected to balance diplomatic relations and to oversee the keeping of records," she said with a small shrug. "I was expected to manage an entire castle, an entire feudal land, when the mistress is unavailable."

"To know each place of significance in Fire Country, as well as to recognize their insignias and their vital positioning on the map," she smiled to herself "that is of course."

"I've been trained to calculate finances and to negotiate trade." A pause, wherein she glanced back at him with a helpless shrug of her shoulders, while shaking her head lightly from side to side. "I may be wrong, though from what I've seen from the account books, Madara-sama, you've been getting slighted by two of your supply lines."

"I've been instructed in town planning, in defense and in militaristic maneuvers in case of emergencies." She breathed out, hardly pausing for reaction in her speech. "For example, I know that the majority of the rooms here have low, wide windows simply to allow for better access to the outside. At one time this place must have been frequently under siege," she mused aloud. "Otherwise all the windows would be set much smaller and higher like the one in this room, to simply allow ventilation; low windows allow too much heat in during the summer and heat is trapped within these stone walls."

"I have a multitude of knowledge in other areas of study. As the princess's future aide, not having an answer at the ready when asked…_there was simply no excuse."_

There was the way she said it, which reminded him of what she had asked him once before; _'…You're saying that you're the only one who is permitted to have ever punished me?'_

Yet she didn't sound wistful. No, she was fiercely proud of her capabilities.

A repugnant feeling invaded his gut. Uchiha Madara found himself strangely reluctant to continue.

"…After all," the girl was saying, her gaze flickering to Izuna, "even the most talented of leaders cannot accomplish much without a reliable aide at his side."

Izuna only replied by way of a wink.

"I also know how to cut hair and to trim plants," she said quite suddenly. Then in a flash, she was back in her seat, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her expression carefully neutral as she gazed up at him. "…May we go on?"

…Izuna tried and failed to contain his amusement.

"It…_really _bothers you doesn't it?" the younger man observed, chuckling.

She didn't reply. Her attention remained solely fixed on their long-haired shinobi leader as he swept coldly around his table and seated himself down, long legs crossed before him.

Asking her further questions on things she may already know by heart would be pointless. Madara looked to the hourglass lying on its side. So she thought that she could know his clan better than he did?

Madara reached out and righted the hourglass. Slammed it, actually.

"You claim to know everything there is to know within this room," Madara drawled, arching his long, mocking eyebrows. "Can you identify each and every member of the clan and his or her abilities on sight?" he asked her tauntingly, knowing full well that she couldn't have met all of them personally.

…A suspenseful pause.

"Certainly," she replied with ease. "…If you wish to summon each and every one of them in here." A small, knowing smile. "…I did claim that I would know everything_…inside_ this room in one week's time."

Madara's eyes slimmed menacingly, but she forestalled any comment.

"I know the councilor Uchiha Masaru, age twenty-eight, a weapon master twice distinguished in battle and a favourite for the young ninja on their first missions."

"You are sorely missed by the little ones," Uchiha Masaru surprised Madara by answering unblinkingly to her statement. "The boys perform especially well when my lady is present at training."

"The councilor Uchiha Kazuken, forty-six of age, a leading strategist who had served under the previous leader before the clan divided and fought amongst itself. After Izuna-sama, this man has the next most influential position in the Uchiha clan."

"…"

She went on despite receiving no acknowledgement from that one.

"The councilor Uchiha Yuushun, age thirty-three, a genjutsu expert with an impeccable mission record. Quite popular with the ladies," she said blandly. Then adding with subtle sarcasm, "Ah, I forgot to thank you for showing me how easy it is for a Sharingan user to best me at playing cards."

"I'll show you how to roll dice next time, my lady," Yuushun offered in reply.

"What!" Madara practically snarled his incredulity, abruptly interrupting her speech.

When did she even—!

"I think she's proved her point," Izuna noted aloud in amusement. "What say you, Madara?" he asked with a knowing grin at his elder brother. "There is not much time remaining."

Madara restrained himself upon hearing those words. He looked back to the young woman before him who returned his scrutiny with a blank stare.

"Each ninja is born with at least one elemental affinity," said Madara. "The jutsu user of which element is the most powerful?"

Another pause. She made a slow blink.

"…Five point penalty for asking an unanswerable existential question?" she suggested to Izuna while her eyes remained on him.

Irritably. "Answer it!" Madara snapped.

She regarded him carefully for a moment longer.

"Madara-sama," she said lightly, rising up. "For elemental affinities, there are five: Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth," she listed.

"Ninjutsu users can either use the natural elements from their environment, or they can conjure those elements by depleting their own chakra reserves. Jutsu strength, too, depends on how much chakra is employed. Naturally, ninjutsu users with the highest chakra, or those who have to use the least chakra expenditure, would have the highest advantage in the end."

"For example," she explained, "Water users have an advantage over Fire, because at one end, the collision of a Fire jutsu with a Water jutsu creates mist, which only further enhances the Water user's ability to perform Water-based jutsu."

"Lightning users have an advantage over Water users," she went on, "because the electrical charge they use for their jutsu can be easily drawn from the moisture in the air. The more moisture is that present from a Water jutsu, the greater the Lightning user's electrical field. Not to mention that water serves as a splendid conductive medium for lightning techniques."

"Wind users have an advantage over Lightning users for the same reasoning; Wind users can dispel all the moisture suspended in the surrounding air, forcing Lightning users to draw from their own reserves. Wind users, however, have no trouble finding their element to do their bidding. They are easily the ones with the least chakra expenditure. I would go as far as to say they have the most advantage, except they have one fatal weakness."

She smiled. She gave the impression as though she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"Earth users have the advantage over Wind users because of this fatal weakness. I'm not talking about how strong Earth jutsu can defend against wind. Wind users at their best can also have impenetrable defense. But there is just one small problem for them." She drew the tip of her foot in a semi-circle in demonstration. "All Wind techniques have something called the 'eye of the storm'. That is, a small diameter within even the most repellant of winds in which the user himself must stand. This leaves a Wind user vulnerable opening to Earth users who know how to take advantage. Even if the Wind user did not stand directly above the ground, a gravity user can pull him down."

"Finally, we have the Earth users," she said. "A Fire user can obliterate every plant and tree in sight, but even that would only place them on even grounds. A Fire user, unlike the other four, has no outside source to draw from. Wouldn't that mean…" she looked to him expectantly with a gently raised eyebrow "…that Fire users are the ones most disadvantaged?"

Izuna spoke up smilingly. "You need not worry, my lady. There's a reason why Fire users tend to have the most chakra."

"Ah."

She gazed back at him. "Satisfactory?" she inquired smoothly.

She can do it, Madara realized. No hesitation, no one word answers. Not even room for weakness.

She will win this game.

Greater than the incredulity; greater than the anger at the small, taunting smile on her lips; greater than the disgust he felt at having underestimated her…

…A growing dread.

"Madara," Izuna said his name, reminding him of the time.

Wasn't there anything that she couldn't provide an answer to?

Time was wasting. This would most likely be the last one.

Cool voice. "Tell me," Madara said, "how many levels are there to the Sharingan?"

She was silent, her dark brown eyes expressionless.

This was her longest pause yet.

…She trailed her fingers over the backrest of her unoccupied seat.

"Five point penalty for a trick question?" she bothered to ask. Her eyes met coolly up at his. "What's next? A riddle, perhaps?"

A light laugh. She slowly circled once around her chair.

"Madara-sama, if there is a fourth stage to the Sharingan, it is not described in here." She stopped behind her chair again, offering him a knowing smile. "…I am confident."

"But if I were to guess…" she said thoughtfully, tapping her chin with one finger. "How can I put this…?"

"…-Eyes that can channel an extremely high expenditure of chakra in form of concentrated energy or light."

Izuna's appreciative voice. "Now why would you say that, my lady?"

"Why…?" the young woman repeated the question, blinking at the Uchiha clan's second-in-command.

…A small, wry smile.

"…Because the previous three stages of the Sharingan…" she looked to him as she said her next words _"…has one obvious weakness _that requires compensation for_."_

Madara's eyes thinned dangerously.

"…The Sharingan is…not invincible," she said calmly. "Anyone who has had enough chances to observe can figure out that-…-the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit rely heavily on the use of light."

"When surrounded by reflective surfaces, reaction time is doubled due to the conflict they create."

"When under the blanket of a dark night, genjutsu strength is at least halved due to the lack of available light."

"When in the midst of something opaque; a heavy mist or rain can obscure an opponent's chakra from sight."

"And in an enclosed space where no light penetrates at all-"

"_Enough."_

Uchiha Madara glanced to each his men. They took the wordless cue to make their leaves. She remained motionless to her spot as the door to the archives swung open and closed several times.

Though he didn't ask it, Izuna also decided to retreat. As he passed her, the younger brother brushed a loose strand of her hair and chuckled, "Next time, why don't you try simply kissing him on the cheek and saying 'please'?"

Her face remained impassive as Izuna, too, went on his way and left them alone by themselves.

…

…She didn't look up at him when she heard him approach. Only when he had stopped right in front of her and had slowly lifted her chin up with his fingers did her indifferent gaze meet his.

A mirthless smile. "…So, what?" she asked in an unconcerned manner. "You are going to have me forget everything I've learned right after I lost four night's rest getting it all in?"

Madara didn't reply. Everything was there in her dark-lashed eyes, in the tiny, bitter curl of her dry lips.

Pride.

Defiance.

_Hatred._

It was exactly as Izuna had warned him.

Yet Uchiha Madara had never taken this small woman seriously. He had always thought her too proud, too ungrateful for someone whom he had spared a horrendous death. Someone who had no worth if he were to discard her. Someone who had been foolish to think that anyone would give a damn if she played a martyr by attempting at her own life.

Never had he thought that she would be entitled to that unbending pride of hers.

She was not an easily expendable palace servant as he had believed. No, realized Madara, as though a long-placed veil had been lifted away from his eyes.

Dared he imagine how many young masters, and even lords, have tried and failed to purchase this very woman from her feudal lord? With her weight in gold!

He had scorned her for not appreciating the position he granted her. How she must have inwardly laughed at his ignorance, seeing that she could have easily been treated by other powerful men like a queen!

Yet Madara had taken all of that from her, had acquired her through unfair means. He had raped her; a gentle lady who had most likely never touched a man. He had been extremely cruel towards her. _But the worst thing of all…_

He had called her, a proud respectable woman like her, _worthless _before his entire clan. Before the very people he tried to force her to accept.

…

_She would not forgive him._

…

Voice quiet, "I didn't know," Madara admitted at last.

Her eyes blinked up at him as though that wasn't what she had been expecting.

"Ah," she said as realization dawned upon her, "…I have not deceived you, perhaps." A light, taunting smile. "…You've simply never asked nor cared."

She breathed out, drawing back from him. "I am tired, Madara-sama," she said lightly. "Won't you save your argument for another day?"

Madara grasped her arms abruptly, angry. Angry at himself and at the kind of impression he must have left on her.

"I am not vile enough to not admit it when I am wrong!" Madara near shouted.

Her eyes were squeezed shut as though his volume upset her.

It was only after a still moment did his words finally sink in. He knew because she gazed up at him first in disbelief, then condescendingly.

"…Why, Madara-sama?" she asked with a small, cold smile. "…Because you found out that I may actually be of some use to you…?"

He stiffened. Uchiha Madara knew her well enough by now to figure that if he reacted strongly, he would only upset her more.

Nonetheless-

Abruptly. "I was willing to make you my wife, the mistress of the clan, before all this!" Madara rebuked, his voice sharpened to the point of cutting.

…

"…You're saying…" she looked up at him, one delicate eyebrow arching ever-so-slightly "…that it would have made a difference…?"

…Her words were cold, very cold. Madara found himself going still.

Every muscle in his jaw and neck taut, Madara painstakingly admitted to her, "I thought you were only a simple servant girl who extended her favours easily."

"Hm, so I am often told," she replied smoothly with a sweet, feigned smile.

Uchiha Madara gritted his teeth at her sarcasm. But she had reason, hadn't she? Looking back now, he could plainly see that there was simply no way a rational, clear-headed man could have mistaken her for anything close to a common whore.

Yet Madara snapped, "How was I to know! With the way you tried to poison—with the way you threw yourself at me, and offered yourself to me in exchange for silence!"

"Oh dear." She patted her cheek as if she recalling something embarrassing. "But Madara-sama rather…liked my acting, as I recall. It was only the first time I've been…_rejected _with such passion." It was that cheek she was patting, Madara recalled suddenly, that he had laid a bruise to when he had sent her away from him with a kick.

…A powerful, gut-wrenching feeling made its way up.

"What would you expect me to believe of anyone who was offered to me by her own mistress!" demanded Madara, reminding her of how her precious princess had practically wanted to give her away at the banquet.

She went silent. Muscles in her neck worked as she swallowed.

Then her eyes went shut.

"…I could have been good to you," she sighed out softly. "…If she were to order it…I could have been good to you."

…

That twisted the knife in the wound.

"…I could have forgiven my two near death experience… and a brutal beating at your hand," she mused quietly. "…I cannot forget what you've done to Katamori."

"You had kept up your lies!" Madara insisted. "Even after learning what I am capable of!"

She blinked once. Expressionless.

"I could have had him killed, but I have not!" Madara added, though his excuses were sounding hollow even to his own ears.

"…I cannot forget that you've threatened the princess's life."

He wasn't certain if she heard him at all.

Her voice was cold, light. "…Yet you…would ask me for my unconditional acceptance, Madara-sama? After throwing me to your men?"

Madara's jaw clenched, his grip tightened on her arms. "Uchiha shinobi would never-" he started to say tightly, knowing it was futile.

"Ah," she observed with a smug, skeptical smile. "So it's just you, Madara-sama?"

…How many times? Just how many times had he wronged her? Enough times that he could never make up for them?

He hadn't known. He hadn't thought and hadn't _believed _that she could be truly innocent. He had gone as far as to suspect that she hadn't been satisfied with him because she had wanted more, more than he had been willing to give her.

"…You claimed you were not a virgin!" Madara gritted out, a reminder which caused her to briefly avert her gaze. He demanded, "I stopped when I found out, didn't I!"

She looked back to him and lightly raised one brow in question. "Only to tie me down to a bed the next day," she agreed.

He hissed in a breath. "Can you honestly claim you had not believed that was part of the deal when you consented to be wed! Yet you would blatantly refuse me before my men! What, I ask you," Madara growlingly demanded to know, giving her arms a jerk, "What still wasn't good enough for you!"

…

She breathed a soundless sigh. Her tired eyes rested on a spot over his shoulder.

"…I have never consented to becoming your wife."

Madara blinked incredulously. He hadn't heard her correctly.

"I have never consented to becoming your wife," she repeated steadily.

…What did she-…

His blood roaring in his ears, Madara felt as though every muscle in his body had locked up. He bit out, "But, you-"

"The only thing I consented to," she forestalled, "was to become your mistress for a limited amount of time. Izuna has a way with dealing with people."

…

Impossible.

Then all this time…

All this time while he was thinking that she was simply being ungrateful and cowardly for backing down on the arrangement…she had never consented to any of it in the first place?

What's even more laughable, he had threatened to turn her into his mistress if she continued to defy him! It was no wonder she had not been the tiniest bit affected by that threat!

…

Silence, as Madara struggled to collect himself.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Madara asked at long last. His voice rose as he fought a losing battle with the ugly, twisted feeling within him. "You simply went along with it. Why didn't you me anything!" he demanded sharply.

She had been composed up till then. She had been indifferent up till then. But even he knew this was the absurdist thing he'd said yet. She lost patience.

"…Tell you, Madara-sama…?" she inquired lightly. "Tell you, when you gave me a sprained ankle with your own hand…?" she asked.

"…Tell you, when we were both at the altar before your whole clan…?"

"…Tell you, when you were demonstrating your little knife play?"

"Ah." She hit her fist into the palm of her other hand. "I was to tell you while you had me tied down to your bed." A small, cold smile. "…What makes you think I did not attempt?"

She was right. Some part of him must have always known, s_hould _have known all this.

_On more than one occasion_ she had told him directly that she was unwilling, but Madara hadn't listened. He hadn't listened. No, Uchiha Madara had been _too proud_ to admit to himself that a simple servant girl whom he had shown mercy to didn't want him. Then afterwards, he hadblinded himself to the woman she truly was so that he could retain his hold on her. So that she would remain his possession.

A heart for a heart. He wouldn't find it surprising if she would now refuse to listen to him, too. There was simply no excuse that was good enough.

…Anguish, so great that Madara felt it tearing up the inside, was an entirely new experience for him.

Tight voice. "I am willing to bury the past," Madara told her, straining to compose himself. "I am willing to put all of it aside," he said, well aware that his eyes were pleading with her even if he managed to school his tone. "I am willing to start over with a clean slate!"

…

"…I am not willing," was her soft and quiet response.

Somehow he had known that would be her answer. He had known, yet…

First one hand, then the other. She got him to release her arms.

Madara let his hands fist themselves at his sides, resisting the painful urge to crush her to him and hold her caged within his arms. This little bird that was escaping him all too soon.

"Loreli."

At the doors, she glanced back over her shoulder at him. Her delicate eyebrows arched in mock surprise. "That is my name."

He let that pass. Madara stated levelly, "I am not asking your forgiveness."

…Her face betrayed nothing.

Involuntarily taking a step towards her, Madara declared, loud and confident, "I will make it up to you the rest of my life!"

Something flashed over her delicate features. But it was only the barest of hesitations.

"…You, Madara-sama?" she inquired in her light voice. "A man who cannot even give me an answer…?"

His eyes widened as he realized what she was referring to. The question he had yet to provide an answer for.

'_Can I…trust you, Madara-sama?'_

…

His expression hardened, the cords in his neck taut, but she didn't allow him a chance to speak.

"Give me a knife," she said, motioning with her hand, "and I will carve my still-beating heart out of my chest."

A faint, cold curl to her lips.

"…Because that's the only way that you will ever have it."

* * *

**...**

**A/N: **u.u Well, I waited a long time for her to get back at him, so why do I feel bad for Madara now? GRRR WHERE IS THE RAGE! But oh well. Plenty of opportunities to exploit.

P.S. I am aware the Naruto manga gave a very different elemental affinity chart that has different strengths/weaknesses relations. Um. I tried.


	21. His Galatea II

**A/N:**Too many revisions makes Mersea a slow updater :(

I take it a good sign that people are sympathizing with Madara. I thank you for all your reactions. I look forward to more shocked expressions in the future!

**cheeky half-demon: **That's a rhetorical question, right? I don't have to answer it? ;)

**Nisroc:**Physical torture? Patience dearie.

**Giraffe:**Haha, I agree; Loreli likely scores a 98 out of 100 on the Mary Sue scale. I have no excuse, other than admitting that things haven't turned out the way I quite expected them to—but things never do go as planned for me anyway. During the course of writing this story, you see, I came to realize that Madara would never drop that patronizing attitude towards her if he cannot come to respect her first. No easy feat while up against someone like him, mind you.

And since I hold a very feminist point of view in literature, I _will not _allow my heroine to be treated like crap by the hero for the entire duration of a story _AND_ to still call it a romance. NEVER will you see me portray Stockholm's Syndrome in my stories unless it is purely intentional! end rant.

Just wanted to make my standpoint known because I know the early chapters may have been deceiving ;)

* * *

**Till You Die**

20 – _His Galatea II_

* * *

"How long have you known?"

Balanced precariously on the two hind legs of his chair, Izuna glanced up from the account book he was examining and returned him with a look that said, 'Are you seriously asking me that'?

Madara arched a long, thin eyebrow in mock question. "It is precisely why you have summoned the council to witness, is it not?"

"…Hn. You wouldn't tell me anything," Izuna reminded him with a casual, amused quirk of his lips. "Did you think I'd tie you down to a random woman you brought back without doing my own research on her first?"

Madara reclined himself to one side of his seat, asking Izuna coolly, "Yet you thought better than to inform me?"

"I know you," Izuna replied good-naturedly, eyes creased up in a smile. "You never did like having your dominance challenged. Had you known she was such a strong, capable woman from the start, I dare not imagine what you would've done to try to coerce that poor woman completely under your control. Her apparent defenselessness held you back." A knowing grin. "Moreover, need I remind you that you did not have the best impression of her back then?"

A fist slammed against the desk.

"So I would have lost her either way!" Madara stormed in anger.

Izuna's relaxed expression remained constant. "Hn… Let's just say, I had underestimated the extent of that woman's effect on you; to the point where merely the notion of losing her can cause you to lose composure."

He had no reply for that. Madara ran a rough hand through his long ebony bangs.

He'd lost her anyway.

Perhaps he deserved to lose her.

He was a beast where she was concerned. And he dared to request for her heart?

…

"…_Damn it!"_Madara gritted out between clenched teeth.

Izuna let out a chuckle, successfully feeding to his brooding rage. "What will you do, now, Madara?"

What will he do now? What _can_ he do now? …Aside from throttling the younger man for not even bothering to hide his blatant amusement.

"Well," Izuna said, marking down the page he was on before closing the book and tossing it aside, "In any case, have you hit her, aside from that one misfortunate incident with the serpent?"

Madara tensed and jerked his head away to one side, recalling bitterly, "You should have learned of the way she came into my possession by now."

…But that was before. Before he—

"Then have you ever taken her with no regard for her pleasure?" Izuna asked, raising a questioning brow.

Madara looked to him silently, eyes slimming in suspicion. "Izuna," he said in warning.

Both Izuna's dark eyebrows flew up. "Then you have?"

"_No!"_

"Hmm…" Sporting a thoughtful expression, Izuna inquired, "Have you ever attempted to force her obedience by the use of threat towards her loved ones?"

He had an inkling where Izuna was going with this. Nonetheless, Madara asked with a mocking eyebrow, "Are you suggesting that I should have?"

"Oh my. I take back what I said before," Izuna told him, chuckling. "You _do have_ a sense of humour."

Dark scowl. "Not _now,_Izuna!" Madara snarled in exasperation.

Izuna went up to his feet with a spin of his chair. "You want to know what I think?"

Bluntly. _"No."_

As expected, the younger man went on regardless. "Have you ever wondered why that is, my brother? The great Uchiha Madara from before would have had no qualms subduing an outsider using any means necessary. Yet you were surprisingly lenient on her, were you not? …Could it be…?"

His arms crossed casually before him, Izuna leaned over. "That you had subconsciously wanted her to remain with you out of her own will?"

Masking a scowl, Madara returned Izuna's smug look with one of arrogant scorn. "Is that what it looks like?"

"Let me tell you something," Izuna responded with a knowing smile. "A woman who's gentle yet fierce, brilliant yet self-aware, willful and yet genuinely cares about others, only comes around once in several decades. I don't know whether it's pure dumb luck or if you knew it intuitively, but it seems that the only one you have ever brought back to the clan…" Izuna's smile slid up to a rare smirk _"…is just such a woman."_

Madara didn't reply. He was picturing the timid and hesitant girl who had balked at coming anywhere near him. He was seeing the shrewd and confident woman who hardly blinked in meeting his eyes, now. Who would've known that they were one and the same? Had he known? But then, why her…?

"Hn… I'll tell you something else you should know," Izuna suggested, straightening with his arms crossed leisurely. "All rest of the clan was aware that you have a very tender spot for that girl. You were just too proud to admit it while you still believed her to be beneath your notice." Izuna rested his elbow on the backrest of Madara's chair. "You get it now? Madara."

"That's the reason why they were all silent on this matter before," observed Izuna. "There is no reason they should keep their silence, now. Everyone is expecting you to make appropriate amends to your sweet wife."

Sweet? Madara's eyes slimmed as he recalled the cruel, whispery twist of her lips; a promise of returning her pain to him tenfold. She could be anything but sweet to him. Anything but forgiving.

"Heh." It was a mocking look Madara slanted up at his younger sibling. "And you?" he asked, arching long, arrogant eyebrows. "What kind of outcome are you expecting?"

"Oh ho." Izuna sidestepped that question with an infuriating grin. "Well then," the younger man chose to comment instead, "If it's true that you haven't done any of those things I mentioned, then it means you haven't done anything…irrevocable-…yet."

Pause.

"But," Izuna added casually, "If there is one thing that can be certain when it comes to women," quirking an eyebrow "it's that you don't try to _reason _them out of their anger."

Madara rolled his tongue inside one cheek, absently listening with a restless and impatient demeanor. _Trust Izuna_ to know exactly what he had attempted to do.

"She has admitted her flaws before," Izuna pointed out. "I find it hard to believe that she is normally such a self-righteous person. Wouldn't be surprised if her recent…_defensiveness_ had spawned from your inability to do the same for her."

Again his curled fist met the surface of his desk. Loose items rattled.

"_I have_admitted the error of my ways!" Madara positively bellowed with rage.

"But have you actually apologized?" Izuna asked, quirking questioning eyebrows. "I'm sorry, my dear; I was wrong and you were right…Will you not forgive me if I beg for forgiveness on my knees?"

"_WHAT!"_

"You can't mean to tell me that you've forgotten our little agreement," Izuna said amusedly. "Wasn't there something about…" with feigned remembrance _"…Then I suppose I have it in me to-…ge-…"_

His words were choked off as he was grabbed by the high collar of his white shirt, meeting two furiously spinning Sharingan eye to eye.

…

…Izuna reconsidered his options, amending, "…-Then I suppose I have it in me…-to get Izuna to let me handle this on my own."

* * *

"Oh, her waist is small, so small…!"

…With trembling fingers, Loreli grasped the side of the wooden drawer which stood before her.

Just because her waist was small didn't mean they should try and make it nonexistent.

"There. All done!" A pat was felt on the back of her obi belt. She was turned around by the shoulders.

Three sets of skeptical expressions crowded her vision.

"Hum… Something's not right."

All of a sudden, her hair was being gathered up none too gently, the skin stretching back from her eyes.

…Ah, she had already lost a lot of hair in the past week, and now they were trying to pull off what was left of it.

"How's this?" she heard one woman ask to her companions, finishing up with the hairpins. "Doesn't she look livelier, now?"

…_Ow._

* * *

"Don't close your eyes!"

Her eyes snapped open in startlement.

"_You lose sight of your surroundings, you're as good as dead!" _the yell rose over a torrent of further, more distant voices and sounds of weapons and jutsu colliding.

…

…Breathing out a slow breath, Loreli gradually relaxed, leaning back against her boulder. Right, that's right. She had come to the training grounds to allow her shinobi guard some exercise, but it made her head spin if she tried to keep up with any of their movements with her eyes. Really, she had wanted to sleep for just one more day.

"My lady."

She blinked a few times, suddenly recalling that a few of the women had accompanied her.

"You're not looking over at the training field?"

"…No."

…Watching the Uchiha ninja learn new techniques was fine. Watching them spar one another was an entirely different matter. It could pretty much be summed up as always having one stronger shinobi beating down a weaker one while exclaiming, 'Still alive!' _whack_ 'Dead now!'

Aha. The only thing which held her interest at the training ground was the routine rounds the medics did. She had yet to figure out why the very people who did the bandaging and the mending for the injured were the ones who were on the receiving end of the greatest amount of hostility from the men.

"_My lady."_A near-whisper this time. Loreli glanced up with a raised eyebrow, too lazy to actually lift her head.

"I meant to say," the Uchiha woman whispered, "You _should_ be looking over at the field."

Vaguely curious, Loreli twisted her upper body around to look. And immediately regretted doing so.

Their leader, Uchiha Madara, had arrived at the training fields, and was presently speaking to one of the trainers. She should have known that would be the only reason why the women were so excited. Perhaps if she could get them to stop staring so expectantly in his direction…

It didn't seem like she had to worry. Without as much as a glance her way, Madara had dismissed the other man and was heading back towards the buildings with his brisk, powerful strides.

Didn't notice or didn't care for her presence.

Could she hope…?

…

Several long moments passed before she chanced another glance to make sure he was gone.

Her heart arrested inside her throat.

Oh…oh, no.

The tall, long ebony-haired shinobi leader hadn't left the training grounds after all. She had not realized what—or rather, _who_ was there on that side of the field.

Uchiha Madara was pulling off his black leather gloves, speaking calmly to the resting Murata; words which she couldn't hear.

He couldn't be-

But he was. She knew it even before Murata rose to a quick flick of his bare hand; a beckon for him to get up. She had known it the instant Uchiha Madara had discarded his gloves to one side and his crimson red eyes had looked up to seize her full attention.

"_Why?_ He-"

Those words were barely out of her mouth before the first blow was thrown. In one continuous motion Madara had sidestepped the fist, and the next thing she witnessed was an earth-shattering impact as he smashed Murata down headfirst to the ground by the fabric of Murata's high shirt collar. A small gust of dust dispersed to reveal that his opponent had replaced himself with a log of dead wood at the last possible instant.

Madara stepped to the side, shifting his stance right before lifting up one arm to block Murata's knee. What followed was an exchange of blows too quick for her to make sense of, both on land and in air. What she did make out was the pause in between where both men appeared to be suspended in space, each repeatedly phasing out and reappearing above the other, vying to be the one on top when the final blow is delivered.

_Slam._

"Oh," Loreli could just hear the wince in the other woman's voice as it announced, "He's got him."

The dry earth cracked and shattered beneath Uchiha Madara's elbow as Murata again replaced himself out of harm's way.

It wasn't until she felt two hands on her shoulders, pressing her back down, did Loreli realize that she had unconsciously risen up to a stand.

"Relax. Murata is not known to be second only to Izuna for no reason. And besides," she was told, "Madara-sama is holding back."

Holding back? Loreli thought incredulously. The feudal lord's men back at the castle, when they practiced with one another, _they_ were holding back; working with pure techniques and precision. But _this. _Anyone who was blind enough to miss the intent behind each hit could surely _sense_ it.

Bloodlust.

…Not for honour, for the ninja clans operated without loyalty. Not for glory, since the common people would only acknowledge them as replaceable mercenaries at best. This was the difference between those who depict war as an art, and those who have devoted themselves to it as a way of life.

She blinked, brought out of her daze by the sight of Murata tumbling up to a kneel, crossing his arms immediately to shield his head. Madara broke through Murata's guard by a powerful up-aimed side kick, his long mane flaring around him, and followed it by a back spin kick delivered straight to the neck at blurring speed. The blow was fortunately blocked in time by Murata, who had to reinforce that blocking arm with his other hand.

Loreli felt her body work up a shiver at the sickening sound that impact had made. If these were just average human beings, there was no way that couldn't have snapped a bone.

Ah, she was restless watching him. Her lips were dry, the entirety of her focus on his battle stance; a half-crouch, head half-slanting forward and red eyes locked onto his opponent, hands unfurled and at the ready on either side of him. His arm movements were clean and precise, borrowing their strength from the hard muscles of his chest and lean abs. His footing was quick and secure, his long powerful legs supporting the weight of his entire body against the harsh blows of his opponent's attacks. Each time one of them landed a hit she felt her breath stifle and some inner part of her shrink in cowardice.

An elbow came down to rest on her shoulder, giving her an unpleasant startle.

"Which one are you watching?"

Loreli darted a glance at the woman in shock. "Hum-?"

Fingers gripped her lightly behind her ears. The Uchiha woman chuckled knowingly as she turned Loreli's head back to face the direction of the two tireless shinobi.

"You _should _be watching him," the woman leaned forward to say next to her ear. "His form is magnificent."

…Pursing her lips, Loreli found that she could grudgingly admit that much.

"That is the strongest Uchiha in the clan, a next to impossible feat for one so young."

Loreli made no response. Quickly, she jerked her gaze away when she found her eyes inexplicably drawn in by his monstrous demonstration of superiority.

…Monsters. The earth was trembling and sighing beneath her feet. She recalled rather suddenly that Murata had already gone through two matches prior to this one. If this goes on, what will become of him?

"…He is making a punchbag of my assigned bodyguard right before my eyes. Am I wrong to presume he is trying to tell me something?" Loreli inquired in monotone.

A hand clapped her on her back.

"Aww, don't be like that. Is it so unfair for him to examine the caliber of a man who is going to be held responsible for the life of his wife?" she was asked. "Well, Murata_ is_Izuna-sama's right hand; Madara-sama likely never had an opportunity to play with him before."

Loreli didn't heed that comment. Her attention had been snatched by a handful of young kunoichi, perhaps no older than herself, who had stopped on their way back towards the buildings to watch their clan leader spar with Izuna's best man. But as soon as one of the women noticed her gaze, a few words were exchanged among them and they left, two of them tossing baleful glances back over their shoulder.

…

"My, Madara-sama has his share of jealous admirers," Loreli mused aloud, tilting her head lightly to one side as she studied his figure in the distance. "Why am I surprised?"

A chuckling. "My lady, surely you can't mean that. Even as a youth, Madara had drawn eyes" pause "…although that might've been because he was always being involved in one fight or another."

Loreli arched a skeptical eyebrow, though she didn't turn around, nor bothered to comment.

"But in a clan where even siblings were brought up in hostile competition against each other, Madara was a rare kind. The girls knew that whoever could be on the receiving end of the same kind of affection Madara had towards Izuna, she'd be a very fortunate woman indeed."

'Fortunate,' Loreli thought. If you'd count getting the wind knocked out of you each time you cracked a joke about him; that kind of affection as fortunate.

She glanced back.

"They liked him?" she asked of the women. "A troublemaker like he had been?"

Nods.

After a thoughtful pause, Loreli asked, "…Enough to kill whomever Madara-sama ends up choosing?"

Several wide-eyed expressions met her stare.

…Loreli nonchalantly turned back to her original posture. "…Just wondering."

"My lady," a feminine voice spoke up, the hesitancy evident in her tone.

"No," Loreli pondered aloud, "I don't suppose the culprit's intention was to kill me. But that is what is curious about it, don't you think?" A smooth pause. She lowered her eyes, smiling a little wry smile to herself. "No matter how I think about it…A person who had access to the women's quarters without rousing suspicion…And a stab at poisoning two lovers' relationship at the cost of her own life…Looks to have been an act of jealousy."

Silence from behind her.

"…My lady, something like that is-…" the voice trailed off.

…Something like that was the reason why Uchiha Izuna, a shrewd shinobi who valued subtlety, had felt the need to station someone of Murata's caliber at her side, was it not…?

"…My lady," someone finally said in an apologetic tone. "Please…do not make a hasty judgment based on this."

Hasty judgment…? On what…?

"Perhaps," the woman continued hesitantly, "it is best to inform my lady of the unsightly side of the clan's history not mentioned in text."

Loreli blinked.

"My lady has probably learned that the ninja clans, when they first formed, were originally loyal to their respective feudal lord or master, and only later on broke off and became independent."

"In truth, the Uchiha, as well as any other clan with bloodline limits, were persecuted as demons ever since the beginning. And admittedly, not without good reason: entire towns have been known to be devastated by someone with 'superior genealogy' losing control."

"Though try as they might, no one had been successful in exterminating all the so-called demons. It was a vicious cycle of vengeance, a dark and chaotic age."

"Then came a foreign monk who happened to pass by this land on his travels. It was he who had made a proposition to the feudal lords he visited, a proposition which would create the ninja as we know it today."

"In exchange for a place to live and for supplies, a selected clan would swear loyalty to its feudal lord and become his own secret army. They were trained by the monk in basic techniques, on which they would later adapt into their own styles."

"That isn't to say the feudal lords didn't take precautions," the Uchiha woman added. "By conventional agreement, it is established that no ninja clan across all the nations is permitted to own land, to establish trade, or to be hired for any job. All of this was to ensure that no clan, for the sake of livelihood, would leave the service of its master."

"It was a functional system in theory," she admitted. "But in reality, the lords exploited the opportunity to rid themselves as many bloodlines as possible. After all, they could always foster the stronger clan once their own had been defeated."

"Yet there were clans that never fell before an opponent, ones that grew continuously stronger each battle. And the more power these clans gained, the more wary their patron lords became. Our clan, the Uchiha, was one among the many to become distrusted by its own employer. It would eventually lead to the tragedy that would once again reshape the shinobi world."

"The First Great Shinobi War," Loreli said quietly, following the timeline of events.

"Some of the ninja were suspicious," the woman replied approvingly. "But what was there to do? They had sworn loyalty to their lord and must carry out his orders."

Loreli pursed her lips, staring impassively ahead of her.

"In the end, they were…horribly betrayed."

"It was a death match, in simplest terms. Many feudal lords facing the same dilemma had pitted their ninja against each other, keeping the women and children as hostage back home with their samurai armies."

"It was the clan now known as Senju Clan of Forest that had eventually attempted and succeeded in putting an end to the suicide mission."

A familiar name. That was the dominant clan to the East, said to contain members who have mastery in either ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu, all three. Rumour has it that they have never lost a war.

"The original Senju and several other clans banded together at some point during that battle. The rest of the fighting came to a standstill. Remaining clans knew that it was futile attacking a force much greater than their own, and to continue battling other clans would only exhaust themselves before their final foe."

"Thus, the first and bloodiest battle in First Great Shinobi War ended with an uneasy stalemate."

…But the women and children? Loreli wanted to ask.

"The feudal lords weren't as senseless as to kill the hostages straight away. They hadn't expected so many to survive, and after learning that the returning ninja had cut through their fully prepared samurai armies, they were quick to reconsider their options."

"Some clans played cautious and negotiated for their freedom, while others took theirs in cold-blooded vengeance. Desperate to keep their lives, many lords let their ninja go without putting up resistance. They figured that, at the very worse, things would only revert to the way it was before for the ninja clans; ostracized from society and hunted down by others. And there were right."

"Except there was one major difference this time. No longer were we defenseless beings who were chased from one place to the next. No, they have…terribly underestimated how strong the ninja have grown."

"The War had not come to an end with just that. As the war raged on, it became increasingly obvious that only a ninja clan can go up against another ninja clan. All of a sudden, it was the ninja who have become the dominant militaristic power across the nations. The mercenary system which you see now has its roots grounded firmly from the vicious demand for hired ninja back then."

"Even so, those, and the decades that were to follow them, were harsh times," the woman informed her. "For the first time Uchiha females who were able to awaken the Sharingan were encouraged to fight alongside the men. Even so, our military prowess was dwindling fast."

"We had several leaders in quick succession. None were able to gain absolute authority, and thus, no vital decisions could ever be made fast enough. Once or twice the clan divided amongst itself…with dire consequences."

"There was great turmoil within our own ranks. The Uchiha had gone through its fair share of losses and of betrayals. Some wanted to give up the war. Others wanted to merge with another clan. And still others suggested going back to the protection of a feudal lord. None of these options pleased the proud and self-respecting Uchiha warriors, of course. As a result, several shinobi began to abandon the clan, causing further the loss of a few capable men."

"The answer came forth in an unlikely form: a young boy who, more than anyone, hated to bow down to others."

Loreli blinked, recognizing the person whom they were describing.

…Madara.

"Even as a child, that had been painstakingly apparent: Madara hated being taken pity upon." A headshake. "Ay, your husband was born with that arrogant disposition that you see now. The few times that boy had accepted help was when it had something to do with his little brother. "

Born with it…? Slowly, Loreli rested her chin back into the palm of her hand. Her thoughts drifted back to what the head medic had told her, but she did not comment.

"Needless to say, that kind of attitude earned him a lot of trouble back then. What's more, Izuna had often been picked on by instructors and trainees alike. Madara…" A soft sigh was heard. "But no one helped that boy with his troubles."

"But that is the harsh truth of the matter: The Uchiha had a shortage of supplies, and considered it pointless to keep those who are unworthy alive. The little Izuna, who had an unusual aversion to violence, was labeled as one of those, yet his brother would not give up on him. After all, 'the offspring of a failure will never become anything great,' or so they thought."

A failure. Loreli found that her mouth had gone dry. The head medic, Ingra, had told her that the brothers' father hadn't been a very competent shinobi. But to be labeled a failure…She didn't think-…

"And in the same way no one tried to stop the harassment and the teaming up on Madara when he was young, no one tried to stop him when he was strong enough to retaliate."

"It was almost as though he were hiding his full potential all along. It got to the point where not even the mentors could handle him once he got serious. After one particularly violent incident where he severely injured a trainer, Madara left, taking Izuna with him."

"He had seen fifteen winters by then. Izuna twelve. No one knows for sure how they spent the next three years of their lives, aside from bits and pieces."

"When he returned, Madara was no longer the rowdy, antagonistic boy he used to be. He had become a fine, charismatic man of eighteen with his own ninja techniques, and had already made a name for himself in the shinobi world. Izuna was no longer the quiet-voiced little boy who paled at mention of war, but a lethal shinobi who can tell his enemy to 'please die' while wearing the pleasantest of smiles."

"And the reason for their unexpected return; to put a permanent halt to the merger the councilors had planned with another clan, the Sorairo."

"…Is it true?" Loreli asked, a bit too softly for the woman to hear her clearly.

"Pardon?"

Loreli blinked. "Is it true that…Ingra-san's mother was one of the Sorairo clan's medics?"

"Ah. You've heard of that, my lady?"

"The Uchiha had allied Sorairo once in the past. Our military prowess and their healing power are complementary to one another. Out of all the clans in the vicinity, Sorairo was the only one we might've been able to trust."

"But, while the Uchiha suffered setbacks from the continuing war; Sorairo, with few enemies and many allies in need of their medics, prospered. In actuality, the merger was to insure that Sorairo would cease to be an imminent threat to the weakened Uchiha."

"Madara, need I say, did not approve of this. Not many did approve, but what could be done? The councilors did not listen to Madara's argument, claiming that he was just an arrogant young upstart who had not witnessed enough wars to accept the rationality of the decision. But Madara's influence had persuaded several young shinobi to his side of the argument, and the councilors were pressed to give concession."

"They set Madara up for an impossible task. In one month's time, before the meeting to finalize the merger, he is to find and retrieve each and every one of the Uchiha shinobi who had defected from the clan. Only then will the councilors reconsider, reasoning that they needed the manpower. The catch? The defectors have to be persuaded to return willingly, else they will be sentenced to death, whereby bringing things back to square one."

"Unimpressed, Madara chose to leave Izuna behind to keep an eye on the councilors, and left by himself on his quest."

"When the appointed day rolled around, there still had been no contact from Madara. Izuna didn't appear worried whatsoever. He sat by himself in one corner of the room, aware that all the attention was converged on him."

"When the messenger came to inform us that there was no need to send anyone; that representatives from Sorairo had come to us instead, the councilors turned to Izuna and asked the boy if he had any objections. After a brief pause, Izuna reopened his eyes and smiled, 'No'."

"It was at that moment that the doors to the Gathering Hall swung open and Madara entered, followed by a group whose faces we'd never thought to see again. The number of highly talented men who have lost hope in how the clan was run and have abandoned the clan, have returned to it by Madara's side. It is these very men who are even now Madara-sama's high councilors."

Loreli gasped, her mind spinning in an effort to keep up.

"Shocked and uneasy at how this had turned out, the councilors were quick to point out that he was a little too late. The representatives from Sorairo were heading over, and to reject them now was a supreme insult that would lead to war."

"Madara listened to their desperate attempts to defend themselves. Then he gave a small smirk, as though it amused him greatly."

"'You don't get it yet?' Madara had asked with a lightly raised eyebrow."

"The so-called representative from Sorairo. _It's me."_

Blinking rapidly a few times, Loreli gave a light frown in confusion.

Seeing that, the Uchiha woman explained with a laugh, "Not only was Madara able to convince the Uchiha defectors to follow him within the time allotted to him, he and his new followers had independently brought the Sorairo to their knees. The councilors realized what this meant, and had nothing more to say. To think that just these few warriors' strength alone had far outbalanced the rest of the clan…Madara's influence was by then irrefutable."

"Amidst the eyes of all, Madara went over to where Izuna stood, then turned back to face those present and gave what was probably the shortest but most powerful speech in our clan history."

A dramatic lowering and lengthening of her voice.

"_I hear you,_ lost warriors: your hearts cry out for recognition."

"_Surrender your powers to me,_ and I will carry out your wishes."

Chuckling. "I don't suppose we need to tell you the rest?" the woman said with a smile.

"Madara-sama," the woman told her, "is the symbol of the new clan. Like an idol. We've always thought that if he ever were to wed, it would be to a strong and fearsome kunoichi who could rival him in ninja skills."

An apologetic tone, explaining, "You must understand, my lady: The Uchiha clan's proud kunoichi who had long fought alongside the men have not taken well to being told to remain at the stronghold and to take up their traditional role as homemakers. And now, Uchiha Madara, their much revered leader, had taken a wife who is the embodiment of how an Uchiha woman should be under the new clan laws. The kunoichi are unhappy. They must have taken some offense."

Loreli averted her gaze, a sigh escaping her lips. She hadn't realized that she had been holding in her breath.

"Ah, but my lady," someone was quick to reassure her, "those are the young and headstrong kunoichi. Not everyone is discontent with Madara-sama's choice."

Loreli straightened slightly and steeled herself for the forthcoming lecture. "…Un."

"My lady, us women who inhabit the center complex are the most docile. That, and because we sympathize since we know you best. But if one of those disgruntled kunoichi were to find out how my lady is behaving towards Madara-sama…"

"…Then perchance she will attempt to sway his affections?" Loreli asked blankly.

That earned her quite a number of unappreciative stares.

…

Loreli pursed her lips, growing solemn. "You…all of you…are under no delusions. So why…" she trailed off lightly in her question.

With a gentle smile, one replied, "Because we genuinely believe you and Madara-sama are compatible."

The hardening of her own expression, Loreli felt.

"My lady," the woman said hurriedly, having interpreted the reaction correctly, "have you not already proven yourself before the clan? Madara-sama has all the potential to become a great man, but it does not change the fact that he is still young. And aside from Izuna, my lady is perhaps the only other person whom Madara-sama-…"

The woman was interrupted when Loreli rose slowly to her feet.

…Ah, Loreli could hardly believe what she was hearing…

Did they want her to act as some kind of mediator?

Aha…

...

A cool breeze brushed past her skin. Loreli relinquished in it, allowing herself to regain some of her calm.

Yet despite her best efforts, it seemed she wasn't able to keep the bitterness from surfacing in her tone.

"…You are right. I have the ability to make him a greater man. A much greater man. I have already decided that, should I ever devote myself to somebody, I will give him everything that I possess."

Her lashes drooped over her eyes. A slow, drawling question. "But what can he give me?"

"My lady-"

Loreli shifted her body so that she faced them, smiling gently. "I will not delude you women. Unlike you, I have no such loyalty to the clan. And the fact remains that I am a woman; I will not have many opportunities to change my mind. So tell me," with a small cold smile "Tell me one good reason why I should make that kind of sacrifice for your leader, Madara."

"But, my lady," a woman replied hesitantly. "You are already aware that Madara-sama has grown attached to you, are you not? I'd even venture to say that he-"

"…Just because one man shows me a bit of kindness, I should switch my loyalty to him?" asked Loreli. Just because he decided to spare her life, then by some unwritten rule, she should return his interest? What…was she some kind of pet?

She… _hated it._ when people tell her that.

Worried expressions were crossing over their features now.

"…My lady…" someone asked anxiously "…you are not-…you don't find Madara-sama an impressive man?"

A moment of silence.

Loreli pursed her lips, finding herself forced to admit, "Great man." A small, wry smile. "Lousy husband."

She went on in the same breath, "And what _is_ that, I ask you?" Using her arms to emphasize her question, she mimicked, "'_I will make it up to you the rest of my life!'_ What makes him think there is anything I should want from him?"

Oh, she should stop. She knew she should stop. She was just so upset that these very women who had been nothing but kind to her were telling her such things, and she_ didn't_ want to hate them.

"So I ask when he's planning on getting me that annulment, and tell him if he's agreeable I might come around to play. He snarls—_snarls_ at me, _'Over my dead body.' _Would it be too imprudent, I wonder, if I had asked to know when he plans on dying?"

Expressions of horror.

"And," Loreli was about to continue, before it dawned on her that those horrified looks were a little exaggerated.

"…And…" she trailed off. A wave of cold swept up her back, chilling her bones.

…

…Loreli smoothed down her sleeves, righting her posture. All at once back in her cool and composed demeanor, she asked nonchalantly, "And he is behind me, isn't he?"

She felt him then. He leaned forward, over her shoulder, causing an unpleasant sensation to creep up her neck and ear.

"My dear," Uchiha Madara's soft, smooth voice said mockingly next to her ear, "If that is what worries you, then you may rest assured."

Then in a tone she could categorize as vengeful; the tall, arrogant shinobi told her,

"_I shall never die."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N: **There is a very high chance that I will be proven wrong when they decide to add fillers for Madara's real past into the canon plotline.

…But it's a risk all fanfic writers take.


	22. His Galatea III

**A/N:** Holy crap, it is too hot in my room…TOO HOT… I am too restless to write properly!

**Favored:** Haha, no, I don't think this is where his quest for immortality begins either. And lol, Madara _is _awkward towards Loreli; in fact, I think she _realizes_ it and uses it to her advantage. After all, she did talk about using her feminine wiles against him etc. etc.

**Giraffe:** What comes around goes around—or at least in my stories. Just need to be patient ;)

**Seth Nolan:** Do you see it? Do you really see it? –excited- xD …I do have an ongoing plot that is setting up, just veeeery slowly easing it in—since this is primarily a romance story after all.

**CRdragonPyro:** LOL trust me, I feel the same way. That is why I say; don't worry, don't worry!

**Ladyee CheriLeena:** YES, I like those suggestions! And I think you're more creative than I am with your lemons…kekeke.

* * *

**Till You Die**

21 – _His Galatea III_

* * *

'_And what _is _that, I ask you? _I will make it up to you the rest of my life!_' 'What makes him think there is anything I should want from him?'_

…Red eyes thinned maliciously as he recalled her words.

So she thought him a lousy husband. Fine. He'd accept that.

But to proclaim that he was irredeemably unsuitable to have her as wife—…

_He would not accept that._

…

Still standing behind her, Uchiha Madara straightened back, noting how rigid her neck and shoulders were.

Heh.

"So enlighten us," the black-clad shinobi spoke, arching a mocking eyebrow despite the fact that she couldn't see it, "What is your definition of a fine husband?"

She swayed a little on her feet. That must have been a question she had never expected him to ask before an audience.

He'd like to see her squirm her way out of this one.

"Dark skinned," she replied without hesitation. "A man who need not hide his face under the sun."

His long thin eyebrows arched up.

The young woman made a leveling motion with her hand, about the height of her own head. "This height. So I don't have a permanent crick in my neck from looking up."

His eyebrows were working their way into a frown. She—

"And" hovering a hand over her head in illustration "bald up here. I don't need a rash each time I hold him in my arms."

Now furious, Madara had to remind himself to unfurl his fists before bellowing in response to her atrocious statements, "A damn _Kappa!?" _

The Uchiha women were shaking their heads, covering their eyes as if they couldn't bear to watch.

She saw none of the gestures of disapproval, however, for she had turned her body sideways to slant him a look over her shoulder.

A delicate eyebrow quirked up. "Why, yes. It wouldn't hurt if he were better—Ah, if he were well-mannered at all."

He stepped forward, shifting his stance. Now he was directly facing her, his red eyes boring down; intimidating.

"It doesn't matter to me how high ranked or how low of birth he is," she continued smoothly, though unconsciously stepping back a step and deliberately avoiding his eyes, "I only seek a man who knows a trade or a craft."

…

"A trade," Uchiha Madara repeated skeptically, folding his arms. He leaned down, arching long, arrogant brows down at her. "Have you forgotten that I am a shinobi?"

"…Hum?" Her pretty eyes batted up at him. "You have a point to make, Madara-sama?"

…Madara spared a glance to the watching Uchiha women, his red eyes narrowing a fraction. What was this? A reciprocal of the examination she had been given one day ago? That certainly would explain why she didn't appear the least afraid of aggravating him.

"It _means_, my dear," Madara stressed as though explaining to a child, "that I fight _wars _for a living." Arching a mocking eyebrow, he emphasized, "A _professional killer._"

A corner of his dark lips curled up into a smirk. "Heh." Madara said down at her in a manner that could be seen as condescending, "I've no time or effort to waste on some petty craft when I must continually train to become stronger."

She stared at him before inquiring further.

"And?"

_And?_

Perplexed, Madara frowned in return to her expectant look.

"What else can you do?" her light, airy voice asked of him.

What _else? _Madara felt his jaw tighten. Did she truly think that he _needed _to keep answering? This woman!

"Ah…we've already established that Madara-sama is a great warrior," she was saying with a helpless shrug of her slim shoulders.

"I am also a proficient general!" Madara practically sneered. "I can coordinate the whereabouts of every man I've already located on the battlefield thereafter!"

"Not every general can keep track of everything that's occurring during a fierce battle," she agreed with a small nod, but not sounding the least bit impressed.

"I am a tactician who has never failed to read the enemy's next move!"

"Madara-sama must be a fearsome opponent," she replied agreeably.

Red eyes slimmed maliciously. Was she _humouring_ him!?

The whisper of a smile appeared on her lips.

"…And what else?"

When she only received a frown as a reply, the young woman shrugged her slim shoulders helplessly.

"In other words," she asked smoothly, one delicate eyebrow rising ever so slightly, "In times of peace…" another helpless shrug, her head shaking lightly from side to side "…you are completely useless?"

Before he could even react, she had been yanked backwards by the group of indignant women who could no longer bear to watch this.

Uchiha Madara recovered in time to bark, _"Enough!"_ and interrupting the harsh whispers the Uchiha women were funneling into her ears.

Curtly. "I will deal with her myself," the tall, long-haired shinobi leader told them. "Leave us!"

She was working out the cricks in her neck when he approached her. She paused when his shadow fell over her, lifting a wary gaze up at him.

Just where had all the fear she had for him gone to? Madara wondered briefly. While it was true that he had declared to her that he wouldn't intentionally hurt her again, she wasn't simple enough to believe that she was immune to his temper.

After a few moments of silence, her dark-lashed eyes blinked and tried to look past him for something.

"Ah." He lifted her chin up to him. "I'm afraid _Murata _is in no suitable condition to perform his duty."

…

"…Beating a man who was already worn down from training?" she asked pleasantly. She moved her chin away. "Madara-sama, I am not impressed."

"_Good,"_ was Uchiha Madara's taunting reply, his arms folded. "It was not my intention to impress you."

Her soft lips pursed together guardedly.

"I was thinking," Madara drawled arrogantly in response to her unspoken question, "that we left off on a bad note last time."

…A quizzical frown on her brow, she wet her lips before she replied carefully, very carefully, "So you're telling me…"

Raising a delicate eyebrow at him, "…that you came back for more?"

…Madara licked a corner of his dark lips, distracting himself by glancing away momentarily.

If only she'd be _silent._

He faced back, long mane rustling with the movement. "I believe an apology is in order," Madara gritted out at last.

"…Very well, I will apologize for likening your hair to a bush," she replied almost reflexively, as though she had been mulling over it for a while now.

Unthinkingly gripping her kimono collar, "You are making it very difficult to apologize to you, woman!" Madara roared.

Not to mention that he had never, for as long as anyone could remember, felt the need to apologize to anyone. Then again, this could very well be the first time he had messed up that bad.

"…Hum?" A look of confusion passed over her delicate features. Then it was replaced by indifference. "Madara-sama need not apologize," she said quickly, seeing that her kimono was coming loose. "I fear for my life."

"You will _listen_ to me," he told her commandingly.

She was pulling back on her kimono, responding to him noncommittally, "Yes, yes; I forgive you. Please let go now."

Seething. "You—!" Then, shaking himself out of his anger with a dark scowl, Madara released her. He couldn't allow himself to lose control of the situation. He hadn't been deluded enough to think that this would be easy.

"This is for you. Accept it."

She gazed down at the small flat box he had pressed into her hands. With an expression which read as 'this better not be what I think it is'.

The many opals and rubies glittered in the sunlight as she carefully pulled the full length of the necklace from its container.

It had been a tribute gifted to him personally by a royal family after the Uchiha's victory in the previous war; white and red for the two colours of the Uchiha fan. He had not yet found time to rid himself of it, but he had the thought that it might look better on her than on the wife of some wealthy merchant.

It was easy to tell that she was stunned, appraising it in silence. He wouldn't be surprised if, with her extensive knowledge, she could determine its worth by examining it like this. And its value far exceeded the one he had snapped off her neck in his rage.

"It is beautiful," Madara heard her state matter-of-factly.

He slanted down a look at her admiring eyes, his long ebony bangs falling over one scrutinizing eye. So, she liked shiny things? Then he'd get her more of them. Hundreds of them.

Her brown eyes peered up. In a solemn manner, she replaced the necklace into the box. "…But, even if there is no strings attached." She held it out to him. _"I do not want it."_

Madara stared down at her firm expression, taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor.

Did not want it, she said?

"…You've got to be joking," Madara snarled upon recovering. "Stones of the highest grade are hard to come by! Even that princess of yours-"

"Ah, Madara-sama," she interrupted, shrugging her shoulders and lightly shaking her head side to side—a mocking gesture he was starting to think she reserved just for him. "Then why don't you have it sold, to fund your clan? You are their leader, aren't you?"

A small, wry smile. She told him, "Something like that…_I_ have no need for it."

It became clear to him then. Subtly at first, like a small fish which eluded out of sight before resurfacing in front of him with a cold splash. Eyes widening in realization, Madara caught the knowing look in her eyes and saw all at once what she was doing.

How many times had she had to get rid of her unwanted suitors? How many? The things she was asking of him: knowing a trade or a craft? Declining an expensive gift using the excuse that he had people to look after? She was simply using the same tricks she must have used to politely reject those nobles who sought her hand in marriage!

_She was treating him like one of those incompetent fools who relied on their titles for everything!_

Yet, while inwardly seething with rage, Uchiha Madara had to admit she was right in her own way, though it wasn't something he'd ever admit aloud.

'_But what can he give me?'_ she had asked the women.

_What can he give me?_

A woman like that, even if he were to send her away, she would be fine. A person with her knowledge and cunning was rare to come by. She should be able to make a living wherever she went.

Meaning, she saw no reason, none at all, for her to have to remain by his side.

Tsch.

"I admit it," Madara finally said, voice light. He stepped forward. "I now regret how I have handled things." His dark lips thinned, pausing with the effort this was giving him. "My only excuse is," Madara continued curtly, "no matter how sick and twisted this may sound to you…" he lifted her chin gently to meet his eyes "…I thought I might be able to make you happy."

It was a cold stare he received from her, but he forced himself to go on, "I had thought you a mere simple servant girl. That is why, no matter how harshly I treated you in the past, I had rationalized that you'd still be much happier than you were back in the castle, once you've come to accept me. Heh." Not quite a smirk; a wistful twist of his lips.

"I have been prepared to grant you all the influence and luxury you might desire," Madara told her confidently. "I was going to give you an easy life, one I had thought was surely better than getting punished for the tiniest mistakes as a palace servant. For those reasons I've never felt the need to take your feelings into serious consideration."

His steady red eyes holding her gaze. "But it turns out you do not want any of those things."

No, if anything, it turns out that he was the one who needed her more than she needed him.

… One cannot forcefully take someone from a place where that someone was perfectly content and then tell her to be happier in her new home. He understood that, now. But he did not say that aloud.

"Loreli," Uchiha Madara addressed the young woman standing before him instead, his expression solemn. "I have it in me to become a better man."

Listening unblinkingly up till now, the small female finally gave a reaction.

A small, gentle smile. She reached up a hand, surprising him by patting him lightly on his jaw.

"…As long as you know, now…" she said lightly, smilingly.

"...then you won't be repeating the same mistake with your next wife."

Stupefaction.

No, that didn't quite describe it. No words could describe what he was experiencing: A sensation Uchiha Madara had never felt nor had ever thought he would experience before. His pulse was in his ears, so quiet and yet so deafening at the same time.

She was the first person he would admit these words to.

And she would make him take them back.

The rest of him deceptively still, Madara felt his hand drop back to his side, away from her.

This was it, then? Was it not possible, after all? No, she can never accept him?

He did not want to believe it.

"There must be something," the long ebony-haired shinobi insisted tightly, grabbing her arm as she tried to skirt around him, "something which only I can offer you."

"…Why yes," she agreed tonelessly; "A headache of impressive scale within a short amount of time."

He gritted his teeth, ignoring her sarcastic comment.

"Not like this," Madara vowed through clenched teeth. _"I will not allow you to slip from me like this."_

She studied him for a moment longer.

A resigned sigh. "…Very well, since it can't be helped." She reached up and pulled out the rather painful-looking hair sticks from her hair. "Here, hold this."

* * *

Of course, not even three minutes had elapsed before Uchiha Madara realized she had no intention of returning.

Which meant she was currently somewhere without a guard to protect or to keep track of her.

Gripping his folded arms, Madara uttered a curse.

How could he have been so careless!?

Turning abruptly, Madara placed two fingers into his mouth and blew out a shrill whistle into the sky.

Mishura never kept him waiting for long.

A loud flapping of wings as the falcon swooped down to a land on the dry branches of the dead tree next to him.

"Where is she?" Madara demanded to know. And to his utter amazement, Mishura fanned her wings a few times in rapid motion. Then she was still.

Eyes narrowing in threat. "Where is she!?" he demanded, louder this time.

Again, Mishura flapped her wings in what could be interpreted as a shrug.

"Why you—!"

With an alarmed squawk, the falcon shot off at neck-break speed, as to avoid her master's wrath.

Impossible.

Madara's jaw clenched painfully, in anger. That woman was turning his life_ upside down!_

* * *

"But I'm telling you," she was protesting to the older man who was in charge of security, "Madara-sama wouldn't have been so careless as to allow me to just slip away from his notice like that. So you don't have to-…"

"There you are, Leader," Shindara saluted him, finally letting go of her arm. With a hint of amusement, he explained, "I was just bringing the little lady back to you."

She gasped.

And yelped when Madara stepped forward and slung her over his shoulder without a word.

"I don't have_ time_ to deal with your ridiculous antics," Madara said tersely as he crossed into the center complex. "I'll wait until you've cooled down enough to actually listen."

"Urgh…" She struggled futilely as she was carried down the hallway in such a degrading manner.

Once inside his office, he dumped her unceremoniously into a chair.

Her eyes widened as she saw him tore two strips off the cover on a nearby shelf.

"It may do you well to remember this," Madara told her as he approached, arching long arrogant eyebrows; "Before you will leave this place, you are still my wife!"

He grabbed her wrists as she tried to escape him.

"Acts of disobedience," he said tersely as he wound the cloth around her wrists, "will not go unpunished."

She stared down at her restraints with pursed lips. Then she looked up at him blankly.

"Pardon me, Madara-sama. I believe I just heard you say…"

Uchiha Madara stiffened. Damn it! In his anger, he-

"In other words…" she asked innocently up at him "…you will relinquish your claim on me once I've left the Uchiha stronghold?"

His jaw clenched.

She gasped as he gave a hard yank on her wrists, causing her to land forward on her knees.

He dragged her across the short distance to his seat behind his desk.

"You may have your freedom," Madara told her mockingly, lifting one leg of the heavy wooden chair and setting it back down to trap her wrists, "If you can lift this seat."

A small, incredulous frown as she appraised the chair. "…Well, if you think something like this-"

Before she could complete her sentence, Madara had sauntered around to the front. "You may have your freedom," he repeated, "if you can lift this seat—" he sat leisurely down in the chair, arching his long taunting eyebrows down at her _"—with me."_

…

He saw her jaw go slack in astonishment. Then she recovered, chewing on her lower lip.

She knew she wouldn't be able to free herself by using brute force.

…After a few long moments of consideration, she let out a resigned sigh and chose to ignore him.

Which was perfectly fine with him. At this point he'd have no qualms about gagging her as well, should she choose to continue her verbal assaults on him.

The only sound that was heard was the ticking of a clock on one of the shelves, and the sound of his papers rustling beneath the brush of his pen. Madara didn't keep track of how much time had passed before she finally spoke.

"…How long will you keep me like this?"

Madara spared a glance down at her.

Because she was not tied to the chair's leg itself, but with her wrists bond together behind it, any other position could hardly be comfortable: she had been kneeling all this time.

He swallowed the pangs of guilt he felt for putting her through this. But it was necessary if it could get her to listen.

"Why, my dear," replied Madara, arrogantly, "As long as it takes."

He heard her sigh. She stretched her legs out to the side and laid herself face-down on the ground—as it was the only other position she could maneuver her body into.

She must be in an awful lot of discomfort if she would discard her dignity before him to position herself thus.

"You had something to say to me," she said, not bothering to make it a question.

Madara arched an eyebrow in surprise, though she couldn't see him with her head down. Was she truly willing to hear him, now?

…

He laid down the scroll in his hand.

"It is my intention to convince you that I will make you a fortunate woman if you will remain with me," Madara stated clearly, turning to her.

"…Then…it is my intention to convince you that you cannot," was her slightly muffled reply.

Then, as if sensing his glare on the top of her head, "…Oh? I thought we were declaring our intentions to one another," she remarked.

As he'd expected. She wasn't yet willing to listen.

But he had been serious when he told her that he'd wait as long as it takes.

…

He was beginning to suspect that she had fallen asleep when he heard her speak.

"…When…I was about twelve or thirteen," she said monotonously, sounding rather bored, "the only person I might have considered a friend…"

"…_betrayed me."_

Uchiha Madara stilled, before glancing down at her still form. He waited for her to elaborate.

She didn't.

Instead she continued, unhurriedly, "…More than the discovery that human beings can be deceitful creatures, I learned that…"

"The more gifts you receive, the more jealousy you will garner…"

He frowned slightly. Was that why-?

"The greater the talents you possess, the more likely you will be hated by others…"

"Because your peers cannot come to understand things the same way you can…you become arrogant and isolated…"

"And the more you are mistrusted…the more you will mistrust in turn…"

The sound of wood scrapping against the floor. Madara carefully pulled her into his lap, savouring one of the few instances when she didn't try to pull away from him.

Something, something about the way she said it made him want to observe her expression. His delicate wife.

"…That is why…it bothers me not what others will say on this…" her dark lashes drooping over her eyes, she informed him, "It is fine if they think me stubborn or cowardly."

"I can't trust you."

His heart thudded heavily inside his chest. Madara's eyes, widened in disbelief, searched for any indication of uncertainty in her expression. His jaw tightened. Why?

Why was he getting the sense of _finality_ from her tone?

"I will ask you this," Madara said, voice tight; quieter than he would've liked. "Have I hurt you so much that you will not even allow me a chance to make up for it?"

"Loreli!" He gripped her arms: an ill-restrained plea.

…

Her calm, unreadable eyes beheld him.

"Strange man…" she finally remarked, a small cold smile on her lips. "Of course you haven't _hurt _me, Madara-sama."

"…It's not like I had expected much from you to begin with."

He stiffened. His teeth clenched together so hard, they hurt.

Madara did not prevent her when she reached her fingers inside his own sleeve to pull out one of his shuriken. He didn't know what he might do if he grabbed her again, but he had a suspicion. And she wouldn't like it one bit.

"Ouch."

She'd cut herself on her finger with her awkward handling of the shuriken, dropping the sharp object to the floor. She used her teeth the rest of the way.

She had avoided meeting his eyes, thoughtful as she rubbed at her wrists. "…No," she mused, answering seriously this time; "I suppose you haven't."

Her soft hair brushed over his shoulder as she gently leaned in to his ear.

"…But you _will."_

He grabbed her then.

All of a sudden she was now the one inside the chair. Trapped.

His hands braced against the armrests on either side of her, Madara hovered above her, causing her to flatten her back against the backrest.

"What, I ask you?" Madara demanded sinisterly, their faces inches apart. "What would it take to convince you that I will be good to you!? I will change!" He nearly yelled that latter part of the statement, but the girl didn't even blink.

Cool voice. "…You, Madara-sama? You, who cannot even answer me one basic question…" Her passionless eyes gazed up at him, and yet he felt in them the same weight as eyes would with killing intent.

"Why…?" she asked him. "Why should I trust you…someone like you…"

"…-with my entire future?"

That question.

Madara gritted his teeth. He was about to speak, but she forestalled him.

"No. If you cannot answer that, I will answer for you."

"I can't trust you."

…Her words cut him to the quick.

"I can't trust you," she repeated.

A small, knowing smile.

She told him cryptically, "And neither can you trust me."

* * *

…

"Hn. It looks like you can be a cruel woman when you want to be."

Loreli paused in her steps, turning in the direction of that familiar voice.

Izuna stopped in the shade a short distance away from her, leaning back against a marble pillar of the great hall, his arms crossed.

Ah…She knew that if she messed things badly enough, he'd eventually turn up.

"Seems like a fail-safe plan to me," Izuna observed. "Questioning the amount of trust that exists between you; while you know that as a cautious man and the leader of a clan, Madara cannot simply make a leap of faith." He chuckled.

"And, of course…" his keen eyes assessed her steadily for a moment, before reverting back to usual carefree expression "you don't plan on giving him reason to trust you, do you?"

She felt no obligation to reply.

"Ahh, my poor brother," Izuna remarked, rubbing the back of his neck. "He must be feeling backed up against a wall right about…now."

The sound of a door slamming echoed down from the other end of the hall. Madara's voice was heard snapping orders to somebody.

…

"Hn. You don't think you've made him suffer enough?" Izuna's voice charmingly inquired.

Loreli blinked and looked to him calmly.

Unhurried steps.

"…If you have so much time to worry about someone else's affairs," she observed, coming to a stop before him. She reached up to brush back a lock of his ebony hair. This boy was actually two years her junior. She almost couldn't believe it.

Then, remembering, Loreli asked him pleasantly, "Why don't I introduce you to some nice kunoichi?"

…That was a rather awkward pause before he recovered.

"Well," Izuna conceded pleasantly, albeit a bit rigid, "I suppose a little suffering will do him good. Can't have everything falling right into his lap, now can we?"

...

"Or," Loreli suggested blandly, "you can send me away from here. Relieve your brother from his suffering and rid yourselves from a threat. Like killing two birds with one stone."

"But," Izuna protested, quirking an innocent eyebrow, "I am against the abuse of animals."

…

"In any case," she heard the young man say, after she had turned from him in resignation. "If I understand correctly…it is fine as long as he can give you an answer that can satisfy you?"

Loreli glanced back over her shoulder, wary.

…A foreboding feeling. A very foreboding feeling.

…She did not have to respond to him if she did not want to. All she had to do was to turn around and to walk away. The fact that Izuna appeared completely devoid of worry should not bother her.

…However…

"…How certain…?" asked Loreli, glancing back yet again. Something deep within her compelled her to ask, despite knowing she was falling right into his trap. "How certain are you that he can find that answer?"

Was it due to the fact that she had stopped right where a ray of light from a high window hit her directly above her head? She thought she saw it. The corner of his mouth slowly went up in an uncharacteristic smirk.

"I am his brother," Izuna reminded her amusedly. "If I don't have faith in him, who will?"

Her gaze dropped meditatively to the floor. Loreli wet her lips.

Ah, she knew where he was going with this.

This was Uchiha Izuna, possibly the only other person aside from Madara who could arrange for her leave. He knew she couldn't ignore his unspoken challenge.

Loreli shifted to face him, and then held up one index finger.

"One week."

"If he cannot convince me in one week," she said smoothly. "…You will send me away."

The smirk on his lips widened for a split second. Izuna schooled his expression effortlessly. "But if he does come up with a satisfactory answer within one week," he wanted to know, "you will resolve your grudge towards him?"

Loreli felt a small frown form on her brow. He was agreeing? Did he think that it would be easy?

"If I were to decline your conditions at this point, you would try to force my hand anyway," Izuna answered to her unspoken question. He smiled. "Am I right?"

…

What was she…afraid of?

It was not as though she couldn't refute anything that Madara will come up with. She'd had no problem so far.

…But Izuna…

"…You will not interfere?" Loreli questioned coolly.

"If he cannot come up with the answer on his own," Izuna agreed, eyes creased in amusement, "it wouldn't be fun."

…

"Hm. Just one thing," Izuna suggested. "Don't do anything…" eyebrows rising, he completed, _"…-irrevocable."_

She regarded him motionlessly for a long moment before turning away, signifying her approval.

"You don't have to worry," she told him calmly.

"I already know I cannot touch him," Loreli admitted.

"…As long as you are still around."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** I know how incredibly, well, off-his-game Madara appears right now. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Kekeke. You know what I'd really like to see? A plot development in the manga where Danzo is actually the guy who was behind the Kyuubi attack 15 years ago.


	23. His Galatea IV

**A/N:** Wah. I can't believe I used to be able to update once a week ;-; Err…I'm leaving on vacation for a week so expect a late update for next chapter, too.

**BleedmetoINSANITY:** xP But, you _have_ reviewed for me before! Thank you for sharing your thoughts ^^

**Nisroc:** That comment Loreli made at the end of the previous chapter there…meant that she knows she cannot do any harm to Madara's position and reputation, since Izuna will be able to prevent it ;)

**Unkown:** LOL I hope that's not a permanent light that's shed on Madara which makes him look useless. Maybe I overdid it? XD I notice you like the amusing bits huh? You are gonna like the next few chapters coming up. Probably.

**Seth Nolan:** Apparently, I am a perv too. I guess me, you, and Laydee CheriLeena will have to somehow make it through this huh? :x

**Vampy-Bitch:** Haha, I was waiting for someone to tell me that straight out. Even if it's so much fun to write about, I won't allow Madara to remain as Loreli's scratching post forever!

* * *

**Till You Die**

_22 – His Galatea IV_

* * *

A soft noise from outside her door. Loreli perked her head up from her bed.

"…_She has not stepped outside her door ever since?" _

It was Uchiha Madara's voice.

Carefully, Loreli slid her legs to the edge of the bed, trying to hear.

"_No, my lord,"_ Uchiha Murata's stoic voice confirmed. _"The first and only thing my lady said when she found me by her door is, 'I got him back for you'._ _She has not been out hence."_

…

Loreli pursed her lips. Why had he felt need to add in that part?

The sound of footsteps, shifting.

Cool, smooth voice. "I know you are awake; listening."

Loreli glanced back at her pillow.

"Listen to me," Uchiha Madara's voice stated on the other side of her door, "and I will not have to force down this door."

She stared at the door to her chambers. She was trying to gauge for something in his tone, something which might've been masked by the separator between them.

…Had he, or had he not, heard the news from Izuna yet?

Loreli wet her lips and replied evenly, "…Fair enough. I am listening."

A moment of silence.

Just as a feeling of unease slithered up her spine, she heard him speak.

"I have given thought to your words," Uchiha Madara's smooth voice sounded from the other side of the door. She could picture him vividly, with his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. She could just see the arch of his long arrogant eyebrow as he continued.

"It wasn't easy coming up with a response," he admitted drawlingly.

Her chest had tightened for a second there. Did this mean he knew of the deal, or…?

"But, I thought about it," Madara told her musingly. Suspenseful pause. "There _is_ one thing which I can offer you."

The beginnings of a frown danced upon her brow.

Ominous, very ominous.

His low, velvet voice told her, "I can guarantee that the Uchiha will never confront the Yukama lineage's feudal domain—"

Silence. A…deafening silence, if such thing exists.

"…—Your Princess Yuzuzu's lineage."

She rose so fast that the blanket which heaped to her feet almost tripped her over.

"…So you show your true colours," Loreli said grimly, her gaze hard and hands fisted at her sides. "…If nothing else will work, you thought you'd try-"

"Listen till the end!" Uchiha Madara's voice snapped from behind the door.

She pursed her lips.

"I am saying that I can offer the Yukama family immunity from the strongest ninja clan in the Fire Country," Madara explained to her leisurely. Lightly, "Do you not know what that means?"

She did know. Or, at least, she should know. Why else would her heart be hammering hard against her ribcage?

But her mind was drawing a blank, unable to keep up with the turmoil of questions surfacing inside her head.

What. What was he saying?

A feudal lord would become matchless within his own country if he were safe from threat from its strongest—…

She blinked up.

"…The strongest ninja clan…" Loreli repeated tonelessly. "…Yours?"

Such arrogance. To so confidently claim that-

"You don't agree?" Madara's arrogant voice asked tauntingly of her. A dark chuckle.

The sound of something sliding on wood. She could only imagine that he had laid his arms against the door.

A low, quiet challenge. "Then why don't you simply make it the indisputably strongest clan there is in Fire—no, the entire ninja world?"

Ah.

Feeling a light chill, Loreli wrapped her arms around herself.

So it's like that.

Cunning, quite cunning.

"I have no doubt that you possess potential," Madara was telling her lightly, punctuating each syllable.

She moved towards the door, slowly.

"Will I not redeem myself in your eyes, even if I am willing to offer your princess that much as compensation?" Madara asked demandingly of her.

"Ridiculous."

The word slipped out before she was even aware of it.

Loreli tightened her grip on her arms.

Lightly, she inquired, "You're saying that…if the Yukama family hires another clan to oppose you…" she gave a helpless shrug, despite that he couldn't see it "…then you're as good as dead?"

Another low chuckle.

"And you're saying that," Madara drawlingly replied, "That's not something you'll be able to prevent?"

A small frown.

"…You will even trust me with that?" Loreli asked lowly. "…You…" her dark eyes slimming ever so slightly "…truly don't think I will conspire against you?"

"You won't betray me," was Madara's fully confident response. "Not in this."

Loreli pursed her lips, her eyes widening.

_What a fool._

Madara's drawling voice interrupted her thought. "Don't think that I couldn't_ tell_ that your little speech in my office yesterday," he told her wryly, "was in fact directed at _me."_

It was a dispassionate stare she gave toward the door.

"If we truly are similar people, then I can rest assured that you will never pull a graceless stunt as that." A pause for effect. "Or are you saying," Madara asked slowly, tauntingly, "that you can stoop even lower than myself, the man you so despise?"

She could almost see those long thin eyebrows of his arching up in question.

"How presumptuous," Loreli said coolly. "I only meant that we are both distrustful people."

"Heh." She heard him scoff. "I cannot help but notice that you did not answer the question," Madara drawled.

Loreli nodded to herself. "Very well, you want my answer?"

"No."

She eyed the door with a small frown.

"Ah, I know your poisonous tongue," Madara stated in wry amusement. "No doubt you can talk a lesser man into going to hell, and to have him actually be _glad_ when he gets there."

…

"And yet," Madara added sleekly, "Your own argument is fundamentally flawed."

She heard him lean against the door.

"The fact that you can face me so fearlessly now," Madara observed, "Does it not prove that you already trust me enough to keep to my word when I claimed that I will not harm you again?"

Loreli wet her lips, moving away from the door.

"…First response," she replied nonchalantly, "That may be only part of the reason. Second response-…" Loreli glanced up at the ceiling, shrugging lightly "…So?"

He did not pursue it. It was either the long-haired shinobi leader knew better than to waste effort arguing the point, or that he felt he already won that one. She had a disconcerting feeling that it was the latter.

"The trust issue aside," she heard Madara say to her, "You will accept my proposal?"

She was still.

"As long as it takes," he told her quietly. "As long as it takes: I will earn your trust as long as it takes."

"_Fool."_

Again, the word slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

…So that was it, then. Izuna had not passed on the news yet.

Loreli pressed her knuckles to her lips, thinking for a way to cover up her slip-up.

"Don't you think…it's a little late for this, Madara-sama?" she asked him coolly, cruelly. "Normally… couples will work these things out…_before_ they consent to be wed."

She heard two light _thuds _as Madara placed his fists against the wood.

"Then we'll just do everything backwards," he told her tauntingly, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Yet beneath his arrogant tone she thought she heard a thread of desperation.

She shut her eyes and suppressed an exasperated sigh.

What an impossible man. Selfish. Egoistic.

She didn't know whether it had been an urge to laugh or to scream, but she bit it back before reopening her eyes.

"…No, that's not it, is it?" Loreli mused aloud to herself. She began to pace her room at a leisurely pace.

She paused thoughtfully when she looked out her window. "…But which one of us is the more stubborn one, I wonder?"

"What do you have to lose?" she asked of him. "A bit of your pride? Some time lost in searching for a new bride?" She looked towards her door. "…How can that compare to what I will experience should I choose to remain by your side and the choice turns out to be a mistake?"

A quiet, sinister question from the other side of the door.

"…What did you just say?"

Her heart skipped erratically upon hearing his question, but she managed to reply.

"…I asked, 'How can that—"

"_Before that!"_ he positively bellowed.

Befor-…? …Oh…

She swallowed thickly, but bravely answered him.

"…What do you have to lose even if I am gone?" she asked in a murmur.

It was an ominous silence that lengthened and stretched.

…A cold sweat swept up her back.

When he finally spoke, his words were so low she had to strain to hear them.

"…So that is how it is," was Uchiha Madara's low utterance. "You have never believed me to be sincere."

…

Loreli loosened up her jaw. She then replied, "No, I have not."

A hissing intake of breath was heard. He gave her a startle when he slammed his fist against the wooden door.

"And just how!" spat Madara. "How are you _not _convinced after having the leader of a ninja clan practically offer to be at your beck and call!" He snarled, "No amount of gold can bribe you that!"

…She waited until he seemed to have calmed a bit before replying.

"Many reasons."

A tense moment.

"Name one," Uchiha Madara finally responded with, his voice giving nothing away.

Name one reason, he said? She had one, on the tip of her tongue.

…But it wasn't something she could put into words in a way that he could understand.

Nonetheless…

"…Have you ever wondered, Madara-sama," Loreli asked while gazing back to her window, "how you came to be so affected by me, of all people?"

He didn't give her a response right away, nor did she wait for one.

"…Moreover," she stated calmly, "You don't_ even like me."_

Before any interruptions could be made, she went on.

"Human beings…are selfish creatures," Loreli said tonelessly, standing motionless save for her slow blinks. "When we say that we like someone…the truth is that we simply like them because by being with them, or by admiring them, we feel better about ourselves."

"Madara-sama," she addressed him. A faint, cruel twist of her lips. "Can you honestly tell me that there is a time when I have made you feel good about yourself?"

…There wasn't. She knew it without him telling her.

She had made sure there wasn't.

"Your infatuation will fade," the young woman said dismissively. "…After all…"

"What is it that you want from me?" he demanded to know. "A promise? A blood oath? How are you so certain that what I feel for you will become easily dispensable if I haven't done so already!" Madara snapped angrily.

…

"…Oh my," Loreli spoke wryly to the floor. "…Is that something a ninja should say?"

…

It was another bloodcurdling silence before she finally heard him speak.

"I see."

He seemed to have straightened away from the door.

Madara told her, "Meet me in the main hall in two hours."

She heard him spin away and was gone before she even thought to protest.

* * *

…

As if she was actually going to go there. Humph.

But then, she observed while gazing at her reflection with a small frown, she couldn't quite explain why she had gotten dressed anyway.

"Are you there, Murata?" Loreli called towards her door.

"I am present," her shinobi guard replied. "What are your orders?"

She pulled out a chair by the mirror. "Where is Izuna-sama?" Loreli asked.

"Izuna-sama has gone to negotiate the terms for an offer. The two brothers take turns with the task."

"When will he return?" she asked, setting her chair on an even spot on the floor.

"A week."

She almost tipped her chair over.

Recovering disbelievingly, Loreli sat herself down.

…That coward. Did he mean for her to inform his elder brother of the deal they had made right before he left?

But no… She did not have to say anything.

…It would be too easy.

…

She was combing distractedly through her hair, eyeing the clock on the wall, when a knock sounded on her door.

"My lady," a woman's soft voice inquired.

Loreli blinked. "Come in."

The door opened. Loreli was surprised to see a young Uchiha woman, a rather familiar one, enter her room.

The woman held out what appeared to be a single stalk of tiny white wildflowers to her, addressing to her with a smile, "Her voice is the moonlight, her smile akin to starlight."

"Thank you," Loreli accepted with a blink, mystified. Before she could give it much thought, another woman approached her, handing her a little blue flower the size of her thumb.

"Her kisses drops of sunlight that thaw the thickest ice."

It clicked. With dawning realization she headed to the door where, one by one, more Uchiha women came forward to give her a different type of flower and to impart another line.

"Her touches are the wind: A gentle stroke, then gone;"

"Her sweet scent will yet linger, and to which all great men are drawn."

They were coming from the direction of the main hall, but she herself was heading over in that direction subconsciously, anyway.

…

_These flowers I will give her, though nowhere can they compare_

_To my maiden's fragrant laugh, and to her rosy lips' fair._

_With pearls and diamonds I'll adorn her, yet gems be not as rare_

_As the ivory of my lady's skin, and the highlights in her hair._

…

She couldn't believe this. She moved as though in a daze, hardly noticing the other women and the flowers they pressed into her hands.

…

_Robes of velvet I'll buy her, and layers of silk to wear,_

_But I know she possesses greater charm than dressed when she lays bare._

_In gilded cages I'll get her sweet songbirds to fill the air,_

_For I know her heartfelt thanks would be much sweeter to hear._

…

By then she had reached the main hall, a bundle of fresh flowers in her hold. And there he was, in a change of clothes that was different from his norm; darkly captivating in his form-fitting attire with his hair still sleek with moisture.

Uchiha Madara approached her silently; slow deliberate steps.

She took note of all the clansmen and women who were witnessing, but Madara himself never spared them a glance. Intent, his dark, slightly-slanting eyes were. He had always watched her that intently, she realized. More intently than how Katamori. More intently than anyone else who dared to watch her for so long.

He spoke, and hearing his voice caused her an involuntary shiver.

"To be embraced by her," Madara said smoothly, silkily, "is to be made the most youthful in the land.

But my stone queen wakes not for me, will not come alive and

No amount of kisses warms her lips; no caresses her hands.

No pure words will reach her ears where she cold as marble stand."

…

Then to her complete and utter incredulity, the leader of the Uchiha clan held out the remaining stalks of flowers to her and went down to one knee as he carried on.

"Alas, my white queen does not see, does not understand:

I am hers as much as she is mine, her black king to command.

And in all this I ask not forgiveness, but my sole demand

Is for her to look past the crown and the ebony to the man."

…

To the man. Loreli inhaled a faint breath, remembering to breathe. She didn't know exactly what shook her resolve just then, but she had a suspicion. And she didn't like it one bit.

Madara continued, his eyes ensnaring her within their hold.

"And now I kneel before her, and now I dearly miss

Her unhardened eyes

And now you hear me scream from the abyss.

And now I beg before her: the bane of my bleeding heart

My darling will not believe me

But I shall love her," he said, eyes watching her. "Till death do us apart."

…

If he was waiting for a reaction, one was not very forthcoming.

This…

Stiff…her body was stiff, unable to muster her strength.

Ah, normally…to have such a man profess his love openly would be enough to flatter any woman, wouldn't it? And this was no ordinary man, after all. This was Uchiha Madara, and she knew what kind of courage it must have taken for a man of pride to leave himself vulnerable like this. He still hadn't risen from his knees.

Her lips were sealed tight together. Her hands clutching the flowers hard as to prevent her arms from trembling. But apart from the chaotic sensations and the scattered thoughts new to her, there was also the feeling of…being cornered and trapped.

Dread.

Up till then, their personal disputes have never been made public. To think that he was the one who brought it out, and in a manner such as this. If the rest of them were to see her accepting his flowers—no, what was she even thinking?

…Be cold, Loreli. This man is someone who kills for a living. What kind of twisted affection can he feel?

She drew in a long breath, sensing clearly all of their expectant gazes.

"I'm surprised, Madara-sama," she said, straining to keep her voice nonchalant.

"Of all the possible professions…a poet?" she asked, feigning a questioning eyebrow.

This was harder than she had thought it would be. Her chest felt heavy and she constantly swallowed for no reason. Unconsciously, she was shaking her head.

It was the pressure being placed on her, she decided. That was the reason for the strange sense of misery welling up inside her.

"Madara-sama," Loreli said, mentally shaking herself. "No matter what the time period, the penalty for getting the woman you want…" she raised one finger to her lips "…is that you must keep her."

She looked at him with mirthless eyes. "Have a care before you make the choice."

Hardening her resolve, Loreli spun away from him and spoke, in the slightly lyrical tone she was accustomed to using when reciting poetry back at the castle.

"Her eyes are blackened ice

Her kisses cruelly entice

Her tongue drips drops of venom to the core.

…

Underneath her milky hide

There's nothing to be found inside

She pretends and she deceives—and the things she'd have you believe

You'd wonder if she even bleeds.

…

Great men rise and great men fall

Her doll-like eyes have seen it all

A bat of her lashes a land lays to waste

The cities collapse in her embrace.

…

Say you want her, say you need

She will give you all you seek

She will call the debt someday

A price in blood you'll have to pay.

…

Your stone queen with the never-changing eyes

But you said you'd love me

You said you'd love me—till I die."

…

Loreli breathed a sigh of relief. There, she felt better now, if only just a little—

"I refuse to believe that you are made of stone," Uchiha Madara's authoritative voice interrupted her thoughts.

…How persistent. Loreli lowered her eyes, unhappy.

Why couldn't he just back out like he'd always done after something like that?

But of course, people were watching. She gripped the flower stems tighter. Did he perhaps think that she couldn't refuse if everyone was watching?

Her words were alien to her own ears. Almost as though she was detached from her own body. "…Madara-sama…this must be a little bit embarrassing." She plucked one bright red rose from the cluster, forgetting her purpose as she stared at it.

Flowers like these couldn't be found in this wasteland. How far had he gone to get them? Or…he had been planning to do this before their conversation this morning?

Loreli gritted her teeth.

"I cannot accept this," she said.

The sight of a rainbow of petals tumbling to the marble floor was only met by silence.

"Six days," she said quietly, lifting up six fingers. "Izuna has promised me my freedom after six days," she told him, aware of only him and oblivious to everyone else in the hall. "You understand?"

He did. She could tell by the widening of his eyes, so carefully guarded up till then.

"That-" Madara started to say.

"Wouldn't have happened if you haven't spoiled him so much," Loreli cut him short.

She'd left out the part about the bargain she had made with Izuna. It'd be best if Madara did not find out.

"You are too easy on him, Madara-sama," she said with a small, cruel smile.

"After all, if it were not for Izuna…"

'…_then you wouldn't be so desperately seeking a woman's comfort—that was taken from you when young.'_ The words she couldn't say.

His dark, intense gaze tensed with the suggestion of a puzzled frown.

"…If it were not for Izuna…" she tried again, but again she trailed off.

...

'_Don't do anything irrevocable.'_

Was it because she recalled Izuna's parting words? But somehow…

All that she could think of was to wonder what kind of expression must have been on his face when he went to gather those flowers.

…Ah, she felt sick.

"_Woman."_ Madara's commanding voice snapped her out of her wave of dizziness. "You're speaking in riddles!"

"I'm saying…" Loreli said coolly upon recovering, "…that you might've had a better chance if it were not for your brother."

"Madara-sama." She couldn't manage to fake a smile, but she did add, "I was almost convinced."

Loreli didn't want to say anymore. She could only hope that he would not persist any more than that. She wanted to be alone.

But as soon as she turned her back to him, he spoke.

"I see. So that's how it is." His voice was low, sinister.

She froze. Her entire body was rigid as she chanced a glance back at him.

Uchiha Madara slowly got up from his kneel, his one hand crushing the flower stems still in his possession. His eyes were shadowed and obscured by his long ebony bangs until he finally looked her in the eye.

She backed up a step, overwhelmed.

"I tried doing things your way," Madara told her in his cool, arrogant tone as he stepped purposefully towards her.

This man had never appeared so tall and so dark as he did then, when he reached out and lifted her chin up towards his sharp, handsome features.

"So no matter what happens now," Madara warned her softly, seductively. He arched his long thin eyebrows, his hair rustling as he lightly shook his head from side to side. "Don't say that I haven't tried."

A cold sweat broke over her. She tried stepping back but he had a grip on her kimono collar.

All of a sudden she was pulled up towards him, his long spiked hair reaching her neck.

"I am not one of those lovesick young lords you have back at the castle," Madara said tightly through clenched teeth. She gasped as she was lifted to tiptoes as he closed in and vowed next her ear,

"_I get what I want."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** If this chapter appears rushed to you, it's because I have a plane to catch in 4 hours.

You will like the next few chapters though. I'm sure you were all waiting for Madara to sharpen up huh?

**P.S.** I've had no experience writing love poems and _don't_ want to do that again.

Also, I don't think you can understand that first poem I wrote fully unless you've read 'Pygmalion and the Statue' by Ovid. So…I don't know why I did that…it's not like Madara could've read Ovid's _Metamorphoses_…bah.


	24. AN: Intentional Plagiarism

**!Attention!**

First posted: Nov 21st, 2009

* * *

I'd just like to alert everyone to the fact that someone was kind enough to point out to me that this story, "Till You Die", has been VERY intentionally plagiarized by someone on another site. I have sent the admin of said site an email requesting that something be done about the culprit. If this issue can be resolved quickly and effortlessly, I will not need to post where this has happened. But if not, I would like to request for everyone to help me bear witness.

My stories have always been, and probably always will be found on this site and this site alone. There will probably be many instances in the future where someone will post my stories on other sites without permission. I have no qualms about them being posted on other sites, and I don't care if they don't mention my name there, but I will NOT tolerate someone else pretending to be the author.

The next two paragraphs are directed towards the persons who are plagiarizing my story:

If you are reading this, I hope you realize that pretending that you are going through blood, sweat and tears to write a story while you are in actuality copying someone else's work is a supreme insult to us real fanfic writers. We're not getting _paid _to do this you know. A lot of us are writing solely for our love for our characters and wish to give them a proper story. Anyone who has agonized over plot and character development can understand my pain right now. Each of us fanfic writers must find our own interpretation of our characters, and when we find it we see it as unique from anyone else's. That is why, when I see someone ripping a story off me and claiming it as his or her own, it is equivalent to feeling as though that person is trying to steal my own identity.

My story is, on a deeper level, the accumulation of my life experiences; my knowledge and my pains. It is not some fairy tale that is meant to be understood by everyone. If you did not even see through this much, don't bother trying to copy me: you wouldn't be able to continue the story if something were to happen to me.

…

That's it for my rant. If any of you happen to come across people claiming my story to be theirs on other sites, please do notify me.

* * *

**P.S.** I am still trying to sort out the next chapter, but since I did raise the expectations so high at the end of the previous chapter (and also that this semester is mad busy), I don't want to update anything that is less than satisfactory. Please be patient with me :3

Mersea


	25. Elegy for a Dream

**A/N: **I know u hate me =w=

All my notes are at the bottom.

* * *

**Till You Die**

23 – _Elegy for a Dream_

* * *

A little white bundle of monstrosities found her the next day.

"...Madara?" That was the first thing out of her mouth before she realized how _absurd _that sounded. Just because he had offered her a few threats the night before, she-Could she get any more paranoid than this?

…

It was not quite a cub. Something like a cross between a dog and a bear. She fought the urge to lift her legs when it came sniffing about her chair.

"...Shoo." Loreli tried a shooing motion with her hand. Blissfully oblivious to its unwelcome, the _thing_—whatever it was—lifted its head and attempted to nip at her dress.

At once she pulled away, and the white furred creature blinked its large black eyes in a lazy manner as it missed her hem, looking quite befuddled for a second. Then it licked its nose and proceeded onto its next target of interest.

Loreli set her sewing down, retreating apprehensively from where the creature was now nibbling on the leg of her chair. But, with a small grunt, itfollowed her.

"Shoo," she tried again, sweeping her skirts in an attempt to deter it. "Don't follow me."

Not to be discouraged, the small white creature chased after her, surprisingly able to keep up with her stride for something that appeared so sluggish.

"Didn't I tell you to go away?" she chided awkwardly.

"I see it has taken a liking to you."

...That nearly startled her out of her _skin._

Loreli turned quickly, finding him watching her from a good distance away.

Madara. Ah, Madara. She knew he had to have something to do with this.

"…Did you lose this?" Loreli asked bravely, one foot nudging the small creature away from getting under her skirt. And this thing was supposed to help him extract his revenge, how…? "It is…_terrifying,_ Madara-sama."

"That thing is my middleman," Madara informed her smoothly, folding his arms in an arrogant manner.

Loreli raised a dubious eyebrow. "Hah…?"

He came towards her. "It is yours, and you are mine: a fair exchange, you don't agree?"

...What? Loreli was struck speechless with her incredulity.

Had this man _bumped his head_ in the morning?

A nudge on the side of her leg brought her out of her stupor. The small creature appeared unaware of its role in its master's scheme, but neither was it willing to get away from her.

"I decline," Loreli said coldly. "Get it away before I decide to develop a bad case of allergy towards it."

…

"You don't want it," Madara said, quirking his long thin eyebrows ever so slightly.

Wait…was he…seriously even asking her that?

"No," Loreli replied flatly, "I don't."

"I see."

Nonchalantly scooping up the cub-like creature with one arm, Madara declared drawlingly, "Then I suppose I have no more use for this thing."

He turned from her. "Ah, I suddenly feel the craving for bear meat."

Eh-

Loreli stared at his retreating back in wide-eyed disbelief. Wh-

What in the worl—!

"Wai-…You-…"Pause. That was what he wanted, Loreli realized. He expected her to go after him.

...She observed the tall, long-maned shinobi anxiously, but he never glanced back at her once. A situation like this…what was she to do?

"...You are bluffing," Loreli accused, folding her arms across her chest. She strained a smile. "You are bluffing…-aren't you?" Immediately she mentally kicked herself for adding that last part.

Uchiha Madara halted in his steps. His sharp, calculating eyes gazed straight at her; his handsome face unreadable. Then he arched a long, mocking eyebrow, replying with an arrogant twitch of his head; with one word and one word only:_ "Ninja."_

Light cringe. At the same time two pangs of guilt hit the center of her chest.

Loreli pursed her lips nervously.

...Oh…a grudge. It wouldn't be wise to call him bluff-

"Wait-" she called out involuntarily when she saw Madara start to turn. Hesitantly, Loreli took a step forward. "…I will care for it, if you have no intention to, so…"

"Ah, but you said you didn't want it," Madara reminded her with arched brows. "You rejected when I asked. What makes you think I will hand it over, now?"

…

While all her senses were telling her to just leave, she couldn't deny that a small, diminutive part of her was sinfully curious.

Madara…? This was the same Uchiha Madara incapable of taking a joke?

"You want an exchange." Loreli didn't bother making it a question. "…Let me inform you right now that I have no intention of giving up my freedom for the sake of any random creature you just happen to walk past me."

Both of Uchiha Madara's dark, slashing eyebrows quirked up. "Oh?"

Slowly at first, a sleek smirk slid across his dark lips.

"My dear, you really need to give me more credit," Madara remarked softly, sinisterly, coming to a stop before her. As his height towered above hers, she was unpleasantly reminded of the look of him when he gave her his warning the previous evening. Her heart wrenched in alarm when he leaned forward, down to her eye level.

His long ebony bangs fell over one eye as he slanted his head to better observe her. "I can determine your worth," Madara reassured her in a light, as matter of fact tone of voice. His gaze drooped to rest on her slightly parted lips. "Something which will mean naught to you anyhow," Madara then asked her, smoothly, "Is that too much to ask?"

Her immediate compulsion was to draw back. But he got her there. Ah, his choice of words. Loreli was debating how best to approach making a rejection when Madara closed in further, effectively hindering all thought process.

"It'll be quick," he promised her softly, close enough that his warmth brushed her lips, "Painless."

She hadn't yet recovered her wits before she felt his lips press against hers.

...

...He kissed her softly, tenderly. As though they were two lovers reunited in reconciliation rather than captor and prey.

Before she even became aware of it, she had allowed him to coax her tongue out to play.

She was such a fool.

-He let go of her easily. So easily that she might've lost her footing if she had pulled away just a little quicker.

Loreli didn't bother attempting to conceal the streak of heat crossing her cheeks.

A moment's faltering was to cost her dearly.

He breathed in. "You don't make it easy for either of us," Madara remarked musingly, the words sounding very much like foreshadowing for sinister things to come. His thumb pensively stroking her cheek, the tall shinobi once again brought himself close enough that tips of his long mane tickled her throat.

It seemed to take her an abnormal amount of time to reply. Her words were caught in her throat.

"...I don't know about you, Madara-sama," Loreli said at last, reaching up to push his hand aside. She turned from him, staring down the empty hallway before her. "I've never been told that taking the right path would be easy."

...

Truth be told, she expected for him to let his pent-up anger reveal itself at that point. During the course of the time she had known him, Loreli had found that Uchiha Madara was a man who simply didn't need to disguise what he was feeling. If he was displeased, he let it show. If he disliked someone, he let it be known.

And why not…? There were few if any other than Izuna in the clan who can oppose him.

…

...She gave a small jolt of alarm when his arms slipped around her waist from behind.

It chilled her to her bones.

"I've said it before, haven't I?" Madara's smooth voice spoke softly next to her ear. A shiver ran through her.

"If you want to put on arrogant airs, _cling onto my favour."_

His hold tightened on her waist. Her stomach tied a tight knot.

"You wanted me to treat you with respect; I conceded to you. You wanted a reason to remain with me; I compromised for you. You wanted proof of my devotion; I gave it to you."

Madara tilted her chin up with one hand, and her back was pressed against his hard, commanding frame. His voice lowered to a harsh, near-whisper. "Yet you waver like a candle in high wind, backing down on your own words as soon as you give them." He asked her, arrogant and nonchalant; "Do you want to know what happens to those who have fallen from my favour?"

She only answered him with her silence.

"Look at me," he commanded.

Strong fingers grasped her jaw, forcing her to look up at him.

"I will let bygones be forgotten," Madara told her, lifting a mocking eyebrow. "Only answer me this."

His blood red eyes glowed dimly in the shadowy hall as he stared at her intently.

"I can give you anything," was his low, breathy vow to her. His long arrogant eyebrows arching in emphasis, Madara said to her with complete confidence, "You'll never find another man of equal caliber, who is not afraid of lending you his strength."

Unconsciously, she drew back.

He grasped her arms below the shoulders, and abruptly brought himself close enough that their lips nearly touched. Madara.

Her heart thumped heavily inside her chest. Whether it was out of fear or something else, she didn't have time to tell.

Madara spoke, his words disrupting her feverish thoughts.

_"Only tell me what you want from me."_

_..._

...She waited until her racing heart seemed to have calmed down a bit before she spoke.

Her voice low and unsteady, Loreli answered him at last. "...You are still asking me that? Madara-sama."

It was with dread and reluctance that she lifted her gaze up and locked eyes with the blood red orbs that were his.

...

"I want you to set me free."

...

...She couldn't breathe. She hadn't eaten well that morning, and a swirl of nausea was struggling to overtake her.

Uchiha Madara's crimson eyes seized her in their hold.

Trembling, she saw those eyes narrow darkly down at her.

"So be it."

* * *

Sounds. The wind? Or were they voices?

She opened her eyes to a world of white.

Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the light.

The small cub blew air into her face. Loreli blinked, but hardly paid it any heed.

This place. This scenery. It couldn't be...

_Snow. _

Perfect snowflakes falling all around her. They looked so beautiful, so beautiful that she reached out a hand to touch them. Yet wherever she reached, they faded away before they landed.

What was this...?

A child's laughter. Startled, feeling as though she had intruded upon something, Loreli spun towards the sound.

There was someone playing in the snow, repairing what looked like a failed attempted at a snowperson.

...shock...

It was as though all the blood drained out of her limbs, rendering her numb and immobile.

That was...her? That child. She couldn't be mistaken. Then-...?

"Loreli!" That voice.

She knew exactly in which direction to look. Unconsciously, she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

"Loreli," the long black-haired, ethereal beauty called again. "Come home."

A memory...? A dream...?

Her child-self trod past her through the heavy layer of snow, coughing a bit as she made her way to the entrance of their small home.

"You are coughing again?" the woman asked warmly.

Her...first memory. A snowy valley. A small but cozy home.

And _her; _more real, more vivid than she even remembered.

"I have something to tell you, Loreli."

She didn't realize when her surrounding had changed. No longer out in the snow, she was within the confines of the little house.

"...We are going away from here..."

Just the sound of her voice. It all came back to her. The soft sounds. The sensations. Warmth from the hearth.

"...It will be better for your health..."

The whispered word slipped from her lips, unnoticed.

_Mother._

Abruptly, a gust of wind blew through her. She saw it rather than felt it. The comfortable scene swept away in a wave of light and colour, leaving another setting in its wake.

Almost instinctively, she recognized it at once.

_Her first vivid memory of Yuzuzu-hime._

Yuzuzu-hime's pouting and angry face.

"Princess, your father wants you to meet-"

"No!" the young girl screamed. "No! Mamaaa! Bring mam-mamaaaa!"

Wailing. The servants trying all sorts of methods to sooth the princess. Next to her mother's side, the young Loreli only stared on silently as her mother let go of her hand and went to Yuzuzu-hime's side.

The motherly woman held the thrashing princess in her arms, allowing herself to be hit and her hair to be tore at until the princess finally ran out of strength.

It was only after a substantial silence that the woman spoke soothingly.

"If your mother is watching you, she will see what a brave little girl you are. And I am certain...that your mother loves you very much."

The scene changed again, one following the other in rapid succession.

_Blood oath._

Her mother's blood.

Red.

It stained the bottom of the chalice.

"I swear upon my life and my honour that I," the woman vowed, "and any descendant of mine, will continue to serve this family lineage from this day onwards. Their joy be my joy, their misfortune my misfortune. My life be ended the same day that claims theirs."

Reaching beside her, the long-haired woman took the young Loreli's hand. The small girl stared, fearful but obediently still, as the bloodied edge of the ornate dagger was brought to the palm of her hand.

"This will sting a little bit," her mother warned.

The cascade of memories rushed on before her eyes.

_Loneliness._

"If...I wailed loudly, wailed all the...will you also look at me?"

Her mother looked at her younger self with surprise and concern.

"Oh, Loreli," the lovely woman breathed, kneeling before her and placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Be strong. You must not cry and rage like the princess. You are a normal girl no longer. You have to be strong."

_Night._

Pale blue moonlight spread across the walls. Their room in the servants' quarters.

She had been young, but not young enough to miss the mistreatment some of the other servants gave her mother. The woman was far too lovely, and had risen too fast in the feudal lord's favour. From dawn to dusk her mother alternated between taking care of the princess and completing the duties heaped upon her. At night she would be summoned by the feudal lord to his chambers. But no matter how tiring her day had been; no matter how late she had to keep the feudal lord company; her mother would always make sure that her little girl woke up in her arms at sunrise.

What her mother probably didn't know, however, was that Loreli would lie awake, alone in the dark room, simply waiting for her mother to safely return. Often until exhaustion took her.

_Wish._

"You may not understand this now, Loreli, but you will grow up a bit different from normal girls," her mother said. "My wish is for you to always remain under the protection of this family we're indebted to. But," she said, "if that cannot be, then I want the one who will be powerful enough to seize you away from here to be a man who will love you dearly."

Her hand over her mouth, Loreli choked back a sob; knowing what was coming next before she heard it.

_'I forgive you,' _she mouthed, unable to utter a sound.

"This is the only thing I can do for you," her mother said wistfully to her younger self. "I am not able to provide you a proper life." Suddenly drawing her close into her embrace with an expression of anguish. "I don't even have the right to ask for your forgiveness."

"I forgive you..." Loreli whispered, though her younger self said nothing at all.

"I forgive you..."

_All the things she wanted._

The autumn of her fifth year.

"Catch him!" The castle guards in the background were yelling. "Don't let him escape!" "There's more of them here!" "The backup is arriving!"

One little girl stood trembling and immobile before her mother.

She had never seen so much blood. Did not comprehend the significance of it.

"Loreli," her mother called out her name softly, reaching out for her. The other hand was clutching her stomach as she lay still on the ground, blood pooling around her. "Loreli," she gasped, her eyes open but already unseeing, "my daughter."

_"...Don't be afraid..."_

It was only afterwards did she fully accept what happened then. Even in death the woman had looked so serene, so beautiful, Loreli was sure she would rise up once again. Hold her once again. Talk to her about what a great woman she wanted her to become once again. Play with her once again. Like in the past when they still lived by themselves, even just once more.

...Why was it that...even in the end...the hand she had reached out to grasp was Yuzuzu-hime's hand?

The present Loreli turned away abruptly, brushing the white cub aside as her stomach tried to hurl up her nonexistent breakfast.

"...Why...are you showing me this?" she whispered.

The young princess's cry pierced the night.

_All the things she couldn't protect._

"She doesn't cry, that child. Isn't it about time for her to get over her shock? How long has it been?"

"But come to think of it, that woman neglected her own daughter after she persuaded the feudal lord to let her care for the princess. Isn't it obvious what she'd been aiming for?"

Just because she was young. They thought some invisible force would prevent her from hearing and from understanding.

But she was not like other girls. Or, rather, she did not feel that she was young. Anymore.

"Her beauty was the only thing she had going for her. Didn't she realize that sooner or later her youth would run out? Such ambition!"

"And so...?"

The two female servants had been stunned to hear her speak. Alas, it had been the first time she had spoken since her mother's death.

The stoic, young Loreli peered up at them with dull, unfeeling eyes.

"If you are so envious of her having the feudal lord's affections all to herself, why didn't you try to steal him from her...?" she asked. "All you had to do was..." a tiny, cold, cold smile unlike that of a child's; for she knew it was completely, utterly impossible for them _"...become prettier than her."_

_The first seed of evil._

"What's _with_ that girl? She thinks she's better than us because her mother made the feudal lord assign her to be Yuzuzu-hime's companion. But her mother is dead now! Her position there is uncertain at best!"

But perhaps she was not without fault, either.

They made no effort to conceal their disapproval. She made no effort to gain their approval. And so the bitterness they felt towards her beautiful mother, they projected onto her. The only person who seemed oblivious to the tension between her and the other female servants.

_Spring._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Summer._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Autumn._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Winter._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Spring._

"Loreli...? Loreli!"

_Summer._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Autumn._

"Loreli! Loreli!"

_Winter._

"Loreliii!"

_She_. _hated her._

"Now, now, Loreli can't keep you company today. You see, she is lying in bed with a high fever. You'll see her in a few days, okay?"

Yuzuzu-hime's bottom lip quivered dangerously.

"No!" the pampered princess yelled. "I don't want to! I-...!" she inhaled "I. haven't. got. any. _mammaaaaa!"_

An intelligent girl in many ways, the princess Yuzuzu had figured out young that someone who grew up without a mother is someone meant to be pitied. It was only natural for her to use that fact as an excuse to get anything and everything she wanted, for her father pampered her very much.

Wailing again. Always, that same wail.

"Mama! Mama!"

She didn't know when it had become silent. She thought that she had fallen asleep and they had left.

It wasn't until she saw them peering down at her curiously did she notice that the heat on her face was not from the fever.

She was crying, hot and soundless tears, for the first time since her mother had told her to be brave.

"Ah, you may not realize it because she is your servant, young princess," the woman who was taking care of her said at that time, "but Loreli is a little girl, too."

She hardly heard them. She was trying to remember, through the fire and the fog of her mind, trying to remember her mother's face.

"I'm sorry!" Yuzuzu-hime threw her arms around her neck, but she did not respond. "Yuzu is sorry! I love you, Loreli!"

_Summer of her eighth year._

The walls looked so high to a child her size.

Loreli knew what her child-self was thinking as she gazed up at them. Knew it very well.

What, she wondered, was beyond those walls?

_And so...she fell._

"You aren't her." She was roughly yanked up by her throat. "Where is the real princess!"

The girl dressed like a princess did not struggle, did not speak, only stared blandly up at the assassin.

"If you don't want to suffer an agonizing death here and now, tell me now!" he snarled.

"...Do..." the girl calmly asked "these look like the eyes of someone who fears death to you...?"

The crushing grip on her neck. It was as though she could still feel it now.

Shouts ran out at that exact moment. An arrow punctured the white column next to them. The black-clad man had evaded it easily, was high up in the ceiling of the dome.

"He's in here!" a guard sounded the alarm. "Surround the parameter! Archers ready!"

That assassin already knew that he had walked into a trap. And, as all ninja were instructed to do when caught in a situation where they risked a high chance of being captured and interrogated by the enemy, he did not hesitate.

The explosion shook the ground, broke off the ceiling and toppled columns. Not even his cinders would remain to be found.

"Why...did you save someone like me...?"

Drops of crimson dripped onto the face of her younger self.

"If your mother were to hear that, she would be very sad," the full-armoured guard commented, one eye shut from the steady flow of blood down one side of his head. "Now get out from there. I can't keep this up much longer."

She moved. He collapsed the moment she got out from underneath his broad frame, finally giving in to the weight of the column crushing him down.

Her younger self stood in the midst of all the rubble, in midst of all the groans and the stifling smell of iron around her.

In a cruel world wrought with death,

...One lonely little girl realized that not even adults can hold up the sky.

"...Liar," the eight-year-old girl said tonelessly down at the man who gave his life to save her. "She is the one who left me here by myself."

He could no longer reply.

All living things eventually die.

See...? Nothing to be weep over.

That man had been a guard at the castle. The one who had been assigned to escort the feudal lord's concubine wherever she went. The one who left an orphaned son behind in his death.

Oda Toshioma.

_Betrayal._

She could still recall the humiliation as they stripped her of her worn clothing and held her down by her arms; still recall the stinging bite of the whip raining down on her back, the burn of tears pouring down her cheeks.

Still, she did not cry out.

"It's not Loreli." Yuzuzu-hime, now ten years of age and well on her way to becoming a majestic lady who will one day ascend her father's throne.

"I said it's not Loreli," the young princess repeated seriously, standing defensively before her. "Why do I need a reason to believe in the person who is by my side each day, every day, before I can even remember!"

That was the last thing the thirteen-year-old Loreli heard before she lost consciousness.

_Beautiful._

She didn't realize it at first. It came to her gently, stealthily; causing what was almost an overnight change in the attitudes of the people around her. She had thought that all the unwanted attention, all the harassment from the males and hostility from the females, were because of her isolation.

It took one fearsome incident after another for her to finally understand what her mother had been so concerned about.

To say that she wasn't the least vain about her appearance would be a lie. To say that she regarded it as a curse would also be an untruth.

After all, this was her mother's face. The only memento she had of her. When she would gaze into the surface of a mirror while combing her hair, she imagined that she could almost remember what that woman had looked like.

_Summer of her fifteenth year._

Yuzuzu-hime's kite got caught up in the top branches of a tall tree.

Rather than risk being indebted to that guard who always watched her with lewd eyes, the young Loreli insisted to climb.

She had been so arrogant.

It was perhaps the most intense pain she had ever experienced. Everything was in a haze of grey and red.

Still, she had not cried out.

Yuzuzu-hime did enough crying for both of them.

_Seduced by the darkness._

"That's enough." The resting girl stared blankly up at the ceiling of the quietest—and therefore deemed the best-room in the infirmary. "If you can't fix it, then just saw it off," she said dispassionately. "But don't touch me any longer."

She shut her weary and dark-circled eyes.

"You men are all the same."

What a shame that women were forbidden to become physicians for the royal families. It was considered improper for women to work with blood and gore, and the men who monopolized the field intended to keep it that way. The royal physician who was treating her, yet another following the line of doctors who have already failed, bristled angrily in response.

"Listen here," he snarled. "I don't think you realize that your life rests entirely within my hands. It is already an insult that I, a royal physician of the highest rank, was asked to tend to a servant! It will be virtually effortless for me to find excuse to tear you apart limb by limb, and none the wiser."

She didn't doubt those words. Those knowledgeable hands of theirs could kill easier than they could heal.

"...Then do it," she said. "Rip me apart. Set my body to flames." She closed her eyes. She was tired. "...So that no one will ever touch me again."

"You think you can threaten me, little girl?" His eyes narrowed maliciously. "The words of loveless servant against the trusted physician responsible for one quarter of the castle's health?"

"If she has a witness, she can."

Both of them looked toward the door, surprised that someone had been there, overhearing.

"Who are you, boy!"

That was their first fateful encounter. His voice, warm and beautiful, traveled deep into the core of her being. Even if this was a dream, even if it was a dream...she was thankful she could hear it once again.

Oda Katamori. The boy who had lost his father.

She looked into his eyes, and knew what he must think of her.

_Murderer._

"You heartless, conniving bitch!"

She stood, unflinching, as the man—a guard named Touma—cursed at her.

"I did it for you! You bitch! How dare you! You turned me in, you bitch!"

The man fought the guards who were restraining him, but he was no match for the three of them in his unarmed state.

"You are a witch!" he spat at her as he was dragged away to his execution. "Murderer! Any place that harbours you is surely cursed!"

…

"...No," the younger Loreli said, her demeanour cold and remorseless till the end. "You are the one who have stained your hands red. Not I."

_All of a sudden, the harassments stopped…_

Silence and parted paths met her whenever she entered a room. The open hostility that had been shown to her by the servants who hated her was gone, now replaced by fear. But at the same time, she became target of a much more fearsome threat.

"Argh!"

The younger Loreli spun at the sound, losing her balance upon seeing the two men hit the ground together, clashing blade and armour in a blur of movements black and grey.

Confusion paralyzed her legs as she sat on the pebbled path of the inner garden.

By the time all the spinning and the ringing of steel came to an abrupt halt, one man lay dead near her feet.

The stench of blood clouded her senses.

"What was that?" a panting and bleeding Katamori demanded to know. "Moreover, why was he targeting you!"

Wordlessly, she rose from the ground. She gazed down coldly at the dead body of the man who had ambushed her from behind when she had been crossing the garden. The girl crossed her arms before her to ward off the chill, but flinched as she disturbed her still-mending arm.

"...I don't know who would bother making me their target," she said tonelessly. "But I have a pretty good suspicion."

"Wait!" Katamori called after her. "Who is it? What do you know?"

...She only stopped walking because he was half blocking her path.

"...I don't know who your master is," she said. "But go, tell the one whom you serve that it doesn't matter how close you try to get to me..."

"The only one I will serve is Yuzuzu-hime," she stated. "It is useless buying into my favour."

The look of surprise and concern on his face did not convince her.

"I am helping you out of my own volition," the boy Katamori explained.

"Oh...?" She looked to him knowingly. "Is that so...?"

"Then..." turning to face him squarely and extending one hand-her good arm. "There is someone: The royal physician from back then. I was only half-conscious the entire time, but I remember him touching me. Always touching me. Whenever I go to the infirmary now, I'd see him looking at me. As if he knew something." She said that last part spitefully, uncharacteristic of her, who hardly ever showed any emotion. "I don't go there anymore. But he follows me. Sometimes." She breathed out a soundless sigh. "It is worst when I find myself alone."

"I feel dirty. Vile. Repulsive."

A light pause. Loreli gazed up at him with coldly smiling eyes.

_"Kill him for me," _she lightly said. _"Then _maybe I will believe you."

By the look on his face, she might've thought that no one had ever ordered him to kill before. He called himself a soldier-in-training?

She gave him a knowing look. "You can't do it?"

"Wait a minute," he whispered, stopping her yet again. Except this time...he faltered. "Then what happened to the guard, Touma...to Ryoku, and even the councilor Raikuto...you?"

She looked to him calmly in the eye before she brushed past him.

"Well..." was her only light, cryptic reply, "...what do you think?"

_That's why I call you foolish._

"The one who should admit your guilt is you, Royal Physician Saido. Your unexplained absences, your victimization of, and the application of harmful drugs on a female servant. I have enough evidence to have you convicted."

"Who!" the royal physician feigned innocence by demanding. "Who is this victim you speak of? What right do you have to accusing me of harming anyone? Won't your 'victim' speak up for herself?"

Silence settled into the halls. It seemed everyone was on pins and needles, trying their best to mind their own business.

She, too, picked up what she came here for and turned to go.

"You're letting him off the hook like this?"

Though he wasn't singling her out, she was aware that he meant those words for her.

"I have already exposed his misconducts to his superiors. All that's left is for you to confirm his mistreatment of you!"

She ignored him.

"This man is a liar and a scoundrel! Accusing me, a royal physician chosen by the feudal lord himself? Arrest him!"

"Are you ashamed now, of all times? Are you afraid, now that it's come to this? I will stand by you!" Oda Katamori yelled after her. "Didn't you want to see justice done upon him?"

...It was so ridiculous, so ridiculous she might've laughed. If only she had possessed a sense of humour.

The exact words. Nearly the exact same words she had heard from someone else, before that person had turned around and had betrayed her. So what would it be? That he would claim that she had forced him to spew out lies against her enemy?

Did he honestly think that she would trust just anyone again?

"Loreli!"

She could hear them. _"It's her, again?" "That Katamori boy recently returned from his training, hadn't he? Could it be that he didn't know about her?"_

She could feel them. Every single pair of eyes was on her back. She turned, but only briefly, to lock eyes with the young man now being held down by the guards.

"...I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

_She was known as Loreli. Loreli the heartless. _

Rain. A cold downpour. Darkness.

Rain was exceedingly rare in the Land of Fire. But if it did rain, it was an onslaught of unrelenting cold and furious winds.

Loreli remembered gazing out of the large hallway window out into the courtyard, seeing nothing but the spray of rainwater, hearing nothing but the rolling of thunder.

Unfortunate was the one who would be revived by the tempest.

She listened a while longer to the sound of rain; to the deep silence of the halls, occasionally broken by the pairs of patrolling guards lighting paths with lantern light.

...She didn't bother with bringing an umbrella. It would be useless in this storm.

...

He had regained consciousness, as expected. It would have been better for him if he hadn't woken up.

The young, brown-haired man hung, exhausted, on the platform in the center of the courtyard, his wrists bleeding where they were held up by chains. Long, angry gashes crisscrossed all along his skin. Some of which would never completely heal.

"...Why didn't you confess to being mistaken about the whole thing?" she asked dispassionately, staring fixedly before her. "...You would have received a lot less."

"You shouldn't be here," Katamori answered between painful intakes of breath. "Go back."

The pelting rain did not faze her.

"You've held out for four days. There is no way that physician Saido will let this lie," she warned him. "If you have no desire to die, then you'd be wise to confess that your claims were lies."

"...I have no reason to do that," Katamori stated through gritted teeth. His voice was hoarse from being out here, enduring torture for four days straight. "I understand it, now," he said kindly. "The pain that would've been yours if you had dared to raise a finger in accusation: I'll take all of it."

She pursed her lips. He appeared surprised when she slapped her palms down on the surface of the wooden platform before her.

Was it because he was chained above the platform, and that she was below looking up at him? She imagined that his eyes shined blue like a clear evening sky.

"Take a good look," she said up at him in a half whisper. "This is the face of the one to whom you lost your only parent. Are you telling me that you can forgive me?"

The young Katamori stiffened at her cruel reminder. His handsome face appeared deep in thought for a long, suspenseful moment, the rainwater dripping off his dense black lashes.

"I've already said so," the young man answered.

...How was it that such steadfast and cultivated words can fall from his cracked and bleeding lips?

How. can he be smiling in such a situation?

"My father gave his life to protect you," he admitted, "and so I, too, will honour his promise to the feudal lord's royal concubine."

"...My mother?" she asked, disbelieving. It was the first time she heard of this.

"Go back," Katamori stressed. His brow furrowed in pain. He was having trouble keeping his head raised. "This rain is not meant to be braved by a woman."

...

"...You're a good actor," the younger Loreli admitted coolly, languidly. "The best yet."

She forestalled him by continuing, "Don't think I haven't noticed you following me when you think I wasn't watching."

He appeared surprised by this. "That's-"

"I will tell you this upright," she interrupted coolly. "It doesn't matter how much you do for me. It doesn't matter how much you give up for me. Even if you show that you are willing to die for me..." she clenched her jaw before completing,_ "I. will never be with you."_

"When they come to question you again in the morrow," she went on after a deep pause, not glancing up at him, "tell them you were mistaken. I will not thank you, so..." She looked up at him seriously.

"Don't make such unnecessary sacrifices for me, either."

A sudden sound from behind surprised her. She looked to see Yuzuzu-hime's stunned and horrified expression.

"Hime-sama!" "Hime-sama!" The princess's handmaids rushed forward with their umbrellas to shield the princess from the rain since she had dropped hers on the ground. They weren't altogether successful, however. Those delicate umbrellas weren't designed to hold up against this weather. Yuzuzu-hime paid them no heed.

"What...did you just say...? Loreli." Yuzuzu-hime's voice was no more than an incredulous whisper. She...had overheard? "You mean that...the rumours that have been going around for the past few days...They are all true?" the princess demanded whisperingly.

Her lips set in a tight line, Loreli did not reply.

"Answer me!" the princess demanded of her. "The claims that this man have been making: are they all true!"

Loreli glanced sidelong at the young soldier-in-training. She had expected him to speak up, and was surprised that he kept silent.

"Why..." Suddenly gripping her arm, Yuzuzu-hime pulled on it, hard, until the two girls came face-to-face.

...It was impossible to distinguish the princess's tears from the rain pelting down on her anguished face.

"Why didn't you tell me anything? Loreli!"

"Why do you never tell me anything, Loreli!"

The sixteen-year-old Loreli bowed her head, but said nothing.

"Tell me the truth!" Yuzuzu-hime demanded, refusing to let go of her till she answered. "Is he speaking the truth? Loreli!"

...

Silent, Loreli glanced to the princess's handmaids who were watching nervously. She gazed to the man who was struggling with ragged breaths.

...

"...He speaks right."

At last, she had answered. Her eyes were shut, but not because of rain.

So that she wouldn't have to see the look on Yuzuzu-hime's face.

_"G-GUARDS!" _

...

"...Never...show your face before me again," she told him. She told him clearly.

_That's why I told you to stay out. _

"What else are you not telling me?"

She remembered being taken aback by Yuzuzu-hime's question, but quickly regained her composure.

"Hime," she asked, pouring more hot water into the small tub at the princess's feet, "are you still cold?"

Unexpectedly, Yuzuzu-hime's hand shot out from under the blankets she was wrapped up in and grabbed her wrist, not caring that the water spilt and some of it got onto her.

"This," the princess said, pulling out her arm. "What is this?" the young Yuzuzu-hime asked, indicating to the burn mark near the crook of her arm. "Why do you have a burn mark in a place like this? This was no accident, was it?"

"Hime-sama..." Loreli struggled for excuses.

The grip on her wrist tightened. "Do you think I have no power to protect you? Is that the extent of faith you have in me? Loreli!"

"...Please," she said, getting down on her knees and taking Yuzuzu-hime's hand in hers. "My only desire is to live quietly by your side. Forever. As I have promised." Upon reading the troubled expression on the princess's face, she reassured, "Your servant is stronger than you think."

Yuzuzu-hime did not appear convinced.

Finally, the princess looked up from her pondering.

"That man who risked so much to protect you-"

"Is being treated at the infirmary," Loreli replied immediately.

"You should be the one who'll see to it that he'll recover full strength."

"Eh..." Loreli uttered in utter surprise.

"I've decided," Yuzuzu-hime spoke with conviction, pointing to her with one of her characteristically grand gestures. "He shall be your protector. I will give him a position where he can watch over you when I can't be there to protect you!"

The Loreli then...had not even been able to react in the face of such a forceful command coming from her mistress.

"This is my will. Obey it!"

_...From the start. She hadn't treated either of them fairly from the start._

He had been unconscious, feverish, for five days. During the brief episodes when he had been awake, he had not been coherent. Was the princess serious in wanting her to remain with him until he was back to health?

The younger Loreli sighed, leaning against and gazing out of the small window of the infirmary room. At least, the doctor who had treated him had speculated that Oda Katamori would regain his awareness soon enough.

...

"...I didn't want to believe you," she admitted, speaking more for herself than intending for him to hear. "Because if I were to believe what you said about the promise your father made her..." tonelessly "...then it would mean that she had already foreseen this outcome..."

The young woman gripped her arms. Just why...had she remained here all this time...?

It wasn't that she hadn't been naturally curious about the outside world. It wasn't that she hadn't had plenty of opportunity to escape if she had so desired. The only thing which bound her was the blood oath which her mother had sworn for her when they had first arrived here. But no one would have come after her if she truly wanted to leave.

Yet despite all the hardships she had endured while she was here, Loreli had not considered leaving this place.

"...It seems...all this time..." A decade. Ten years. "...I have been waiting."

For her to be told that it was alright for her to rest, now. For the words of a woman who she knew was never coming back. She had known. A part of her had always known. But...It had taken her ten years to finally come to terms with that fact.

"Now, I can't feel her anymore..." she whispered. A sinking, nauseating feeling as she realized that. "...I can't feel her presence anymore..." No longer could she visualize that woman beside her whenever she cared for the princess. No longer could she imagine herself modeling after that ghost in mannerism and skill.

...She was gone. Her mother-the person she loved most in the world-she was gone. _She had truly left her._

Tears slipped out from her eyes. Many of them. Soft sobs convulsed her body, and she could count the number of times she had cried this much on one hand.

...But it didn't matter anymore, did it?

A cough interrupted her.

Instinctively, she reached up to dry her eyes.

"I left water by your bedside table," she said tonelessly.

She listened restlessly to his movements, his coughing, and to his gasps of pain.

"I am only here because of orders I cannot ignore," she stated flatly. "She wants to make you her personal guard."

She heard him choking and coughing water back up.

"I want you to decline. She will not force you."

She faced him then, her arms folded before her.

"Because she is too young. Because she is too willful," she stated before he asked for an explanation. "As long as it is for my sake, she will believe what anyone says." She clenched her jaw before continuing. "For a girl who will grow up inheriting one of the larger territories in the Fire Country, her only tragic flaw is that she is too trusting. Believing that everything will turn out alright as long as she has faith in it."

Hmph. "I must protect her," she said with resolve. "I _will _protect her. Should you choose not heed my warning, then..." she looked at him coldly _"steel yourself."_

...

...Katamori did not react immediately. But at long last he massaged his brow with one hand and let out a long sigh.

"What was that?" he commented, his voice still low and hoarse. A grimace. "You said that as though you aren't but a young girl yourself."

...It was a strange look on her face as she regarded him.

"So even now, you distrust me," he noted, running his hand through his hair sheepishly. "I shouldn't be surprised," he admitted.

"A girl rumoured to have never laughed or cried, to have never spoken unless commanded; knows neither music nor dance, nor any of the arts, but might as well have memorized everything in the royal archives by heart. It is one of the first rumours I picked up on since I came back to this place. Hah...Who knew she'd turn out to the same girl I'm meant to watch over?"

Her lips tightened. She didn't speak.

"It appears you have suffered a harsh betrayal in the past," Katamori observed. "But by guarding yourself from a repeat of that pain, you turned into one of those very people whom you hate most."

...What.

She bit back a scoff.

Was he seriously intending to lecture _her?_

"Have you realize this," he went on. "You must have. When one gives off the aura of despising all those around her, she can expect that no one will try to like her, either. No," Katamori corrected himself. "There are plenty of people who want to approach a bit closer. Certainly, they are not perfect people...but, Loreli." He said her name.

"When," the young man asked this solemnly of her, "had you stopped believing in kindness?"

...

...She didn't need to stay and listen to this.

Folding and taking an used towel with her, she headed to the door. "If you have enough energy to preach at me, then I believe you are better already. Now then-..."

"I don't find it strange that you are wary of me," Katamori sighed resignedly. "But you don't even trust your mistress, the princess Yuzuzu, do you?"

Her hand paused on the door handle. She flinched.

...

"Why?" The question he asked her.

He was so noisy.

"Not even the person who you yourself have said would do anything for your sake?" the young soldier-in-training inquired. But this time it was not a question.

It was clearly an act of chiding.

"...Me?" Quietly. "Trust...? Me?"

Trust was a luxury only sheltered and well-loved people could afford.

Slow words. Curt words. "I am not. a normal girl," she replied unkindly. "I don't seek. light and laughter."

"I don't feel. fear or loneliness."

She spoke with conviction. "I don't need. anyone."

The girl turned away from the door to face him, eyes downcast, and the Loreli now had to shield her eyes with her hand so she didn't have to see it.

The wistful and distant expression which would not have fooled anyone.

"Because. _I am strong."_

"Ahh." Katamori forced a brief, abrupt laugh. She knew it was forced because when he lifted his head up again...his smile was even more grief-stricken than the crumbling mask on her face.

"I really just can't leave you alone," the young man told her with a strained but sincere grin.

He was too kind, that Oda Katamori. Loreli hadn't thought so back then-had thought him a nuisance she couldn't find a way to rid of back then-but that's what he was.

...Was this the true difference between the sexes? The hurdle she could not overcome. He overcame it.

"Tsch." She couldn't be bothered to do anything about him while he was still an infirm. She had orders to report back to Yuzuzu-hime once he was awake.

"But which one is the greater tragedy, I wonder?" Katamori's musing words invaded her thoughts despite her best effort to block them out on her way through the door. "The girl who is hurt again and again, but exposes her heart to new and greater pain...or the girl who turns a blind eye, and refuses to believe?"

She did not look back.

A few days later, she heard that he declined Yuzuzu-hime's offer.

_That's right. She had been unfair to both of them from the start. _

_But to her...they conveyed their unconditional positive regard._

"You need a little help getting up there?" a laughing, manly voice questioned her.

She was nearly startled out of her skin.

"If you had just asked, I would have let you through the main gates," the handsome young man told her in amusement.

Blankly, she stared down at the guard captain of the castle.

"If it's an errand for Yuzuzu-hime-sama," Katamori hummed, "I would have understood-Whoa!"

Humph. She restrained a small scoff at his awkward look, his having managed to catch and balance the wooden container dumped upon him.

"Deliver that to Yuzuzu-hime's room," she told him. "Be careful. I didn't go all the way to that noodle house just so you can spill it on the way back."

"...Right," she heard him say as she lifted herself to the top of the wall, letting the tree branch fall away from her. Damn. This had been much easier when she was smaller...and less wary of heights.

"So I hear you started talking," Katamori remarked. He smiled warmly. "I'm glad."

...Saying things like that. Had he no shame?

"...If I show you what you wanted to see, you'd leave me in peace, right?" she asked tonelessly, balancing herself to a stand on top of the wall. "I'll lay your conscience to rest."

"Hey," Katamori warned, "that's dangerous."

She looked down at him strangely.

He thought her clueless enough to not realize that he watched over her constantly. Always. For the most part he knew to stay out of her way. The only times they met face to face was when she encountered an obstacle she couldn't physically overcome.

Over the past months she had gotten so used to meeting him at these walls that she had carried items of all mannerism to ward him off. She didn't count how many eggs, buckets of hot water, and rotten boards she had landed on him. But at last, she had given up.

He doesn't get angry.

"You're like a lost puppy looking for his owner," she said in a deadpan voice, without any trace of amusement. "Don't laugh. That wasn't a compliment."

"But because of you," she added, "I am able to frequent the outside once again." A pause. "I am happy."

Regardless of her insult earlier, Katamori answered her with a glint of amusement in his handsome, laughing eyes. "If that's the case, then you need not worry about trying to smile a bit as well," he told her. "Because," looking up at her warmly, "even if will appear that you will be fine on your own, I will not leave you."

...

"Didn't you once say that your dream is to be a high-ranked general?" the young, black-haired woman asked smoothly. He looked surprised that she knew of that.

"Hm," she scoffed. "This is why you won't rise any higher than being a simple guard captain."

"Ahh." Katamori ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "What do I do?" He laughed good-naturedly. "I don't think I'll mind. As long as I can remain watching over you, forever."

Words that she would have found repulsive coming from anyone else. For the first time in her life...she felt-...desirable.

...

The scene shimmered and wavered before her eyes. Without questioning, Loreli knew that the brief, heartbreaking journey was to end here. She had seen enough.

Loreli closed her eyes.

It is to her greatest regret...that due to the walls she built around her heart...she had never found the words to thank them truly, honestly.

Yet they had understood.

_...One day, surely one day, she will repay them for their kindness._

_Even if..._

Loreli grasped her mouth with her hand, doubling over as another wave of nausea hit her.

Ah...Really. She felt really ill.

...

Slowly, she became aware of someone rubbing her on her back, supporting her weight. She stiffened, realizing who it was.

...

"Where..." she asked, her throat dry, "...is this place?"

Trees. They were surrounded by green. Lush vegetation like these did not exist in the Fire Country.

"You said you wanted to be free." She felt his breath on the back of her neck as he chuckled darkly, causing her to shiver with discomfort. "I've already said that as long as it's a short visit to a nearby place outside, you only had to ask."

She could just envision his long, thin mocking eyebrows cocking up as he looked down upon her from behind.

...Loreli gripped her arms. He was totally toying with her.

"You can stay here till you've calmed down," Madara drawled smoothly.

She felt him draw away from her.

"Just now..." she said. "What did you do to me?"

She refused to check herself to see if she was still in one piece.

"I had you take a pleasant nap. What's wrong?"

She felt him play with her hair. He leaned in.

"Did you have a nice dream?"

Her nails bit hard into the palms of her hand. Loreli couldn't stop her trembling.

"Heh."

Madara stepped away from her, lazily spinning the end of a kunai blade around his index finger. She heard it rather than saw it with her eyes.

"You've said so yourself," his arrogant drawl reminded her. "As long as it is by your princess's command," mockingly, "it is fine?"

She couldn't speak.

The tall, ebony-haired shinobi leader tossed the weapon in his hand, and caught it again. His knowing, velvety voice inquired of her, "...You don't mind if I toy with them a bit?"

Damn. Damn you.

As expected of the man who had made her known _fear _the first time their eyes have met. A raw...ugly, and cowardly emotion she had not felt since she was a young girl. She, who had something to lose now: he knew her greatest weakness and grasped it in the palm of his hand.

It is true. If it is an order from Yuzuzu-hime, she would have no other choice. Just the thought of him carrying out his threat of terrorizing the people she cared about... But what if...what if Yuzuzu-hime refused? What if-

"I get it," she said in a low, curt voice. "...You already know that if you frame it that way, I will absolutely obey you."

The reason Uchiha Madara made her relive her past; the memories carved into the deepest recesses of her mind, was clear. He wanted to remind her of the lives which rested on his fingertips; of the debt she had not yet paid back to him in full.

Why he had not resorted to this sooner, she didn't know. But what was for sure is that now, thanks to him, she could answer with full certainty.

Bowing her head slightly and sighing a little. "Certainly, if that is the answer Madara-sama will give me...then there isn't much for me to consider, is there...?" the young black-haired woman pondered aloud.

She turned a bit, so she could look at him with her pretty, unreadable eyes, veiled by her long dense lashes.

"...Shall I give you a bit of advice?" the delicate female asked coolly up at him.

Even now it baffles him how this one woman can make the notion of being his wife sound like the most abominable thing in the world.

She drew closer to him on her own accord, so that her soft words could reach up to his ears.

"Never_. _fall." She spoke lightly, forebodingly.

"Never. falter in your strength."

It was the first time. Not even when he had pushed her into the darkest abyss of hopelessness had she gazed upon him with such barely concealed malice.

"...Because the moment I see that you can no longer have control of their lives in your hands..." she told him coolly.

"I will..._betray you."_

Uchiha Madara grabbed hold of her arm. _"What?" _the tall and long ebony-haired shinobi all but snarled, daring her to repeat that to him one more time.

...

"No? It is not satisfactory?" she murmured dispassionately, almost as though to herself. "You were expecting anything more?"

Soft laugh. "I am stating that this is the extent of my loyalty to you," the young woman declared evenly. "...It is your misfortune to have set your sights on something you can't take." Slight pause for effect. "Uchiha Madara," she used his full name for the first time. "I am asking you, now."

She was such a fragile creature, easily towered over by his height. But there were a few instances, split-second moments when he felt his senses were being deceived.

"That kind of burden," the woman asked up at him loftily, her dark eyes appraising him coldly.

_"Can you shoulder that kind of burden?"_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Alright, alright. I KNOW most of you hate reading about the OC's pasts and this isn't what you guys were expecting. I was stuck on a _major_ writer's block for..._months._ At first I thought I lost touch with Madara's character, and was fixated on changing that...but it turns out what kept me back was the surprising fact that I was unable to understand my _own _OC properly. Hopefully this chapter will set me back on the right track.

I admit it. This was the result of bad planning (and a few hundred rewrites). I am still an amateur writer ;w; so go easy on me! But hey, at least that's over and done with.

TO MAKE UP FOR THIS, NEXT CHAPTER _WILL_ BE WHAT (MOST OF) YOU GUYS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

**P.S.** I know a lot of you left me questions and comments in your reviews (oh, and thank you to those who are so supportive of me with that plagiarism matter; it has been resolved). I will answer those that seem to need answers below here xD but if you don't see them listed under here yet...well...refresh again in a few minutes. I like answering them, really. They make me feel I should provide an explanation for myself ;w; lol jk.

**.Laydee CheiraLeena.:** update. now.

**Seth Nolan:** I'm trying to confuse you, obviously.

**white-washed-walls:** You have good observation ;) You pointed out something interesting for me, too. You're right, I don't usually put any description that I don't feel is necessary. I suspect this is because during my reading-2-novels-a-day days, I got sick of reading descriptions in the novels and skipped ahead a lot, and so I ended up carrying over this mindset into my writing. I feel that an experienced reader should be allowed to visualize the scene in their own mind with maximum freedom allowed. Since you pointed it out, I will try to pay more attention to description, but I can't really make any promises :c

**Suck Neck:** Yes! I have read some of Kresley Cole's novels. She's one of the writers I feel that actually do her female characters justice. The Itachi sequel...I can't make any promises there...when I was working on it I planned for it to be drawn, so now converting it into words will be difficult. lol, I didn't notice the 'x's in the reviews being different, maybe they fixed that now?

**Diving in:** Oh the perpetual love potion question, lol. I'm sorry, it may be confusing, but that's for you guys to puzzle over. For now.

**Devil-Angel:** Thank you for your thoughts! I do truly appreciate the long and detailed reviews people take time to write for me ^^ I did start drawing that Itachi sequel, but I have set that aside for now because my drawing speed is way too slow...and for some reason I find the Itachi sequel too distracting when I'm trying to study for my exams. A friend has shown me fanart by Lily before (gosh I adore her style). They're really...stimulating? As for your observation on Loreli...hmm...you're right...she is not a perfect (heh heh, but you guys won't know why I say this until later on)...but she meets quite a few of the major criteria for being a Mary Sue xD.

Did I miss anyone?


	26. Her Pygmalion I

**A/N: **They're at the end of the chapter...still writing them up...lol.

* * *

**Till You Die**

24 - _Her Pygmalion I_

* * *

When. had she gotten so strong?

For a long moment the leader of the Uchiha clan simply stared back down at the small woman before him with masked surprise. Torn between feeling proud of her growth and feeling agitated at her defiance.

He had awoken something; a dark flame which had existed hidden within the depths of her soul. Now it flared up in vengeance.

Uchiha Madara let loose a small chuckle.

A light, arrogant drawl. "I see."

Her proposition. There was no way he was going to accept that.

"You seem to think that you have some kind of power over me," Madara observed, his height bearing down upon her as he leaned forward to her level, his arms folded arrogantly before him.

She answered with a lowered but unwavering gaze, dark brown eyes veiled by her dense lashes. "Oh...I don't, Madara-sama?"

Despite himself, a corner of his dark lips quirked up in a mixture of appreciation and disbelief.

This woman.

Another low, velvety chuckle escaped the tall, long ebony-haired man.

"Don't. push your luck," Madara warned darkly, leaning forward a little closer. "You're cute," he admitted, his long, arrogant brows arching mockingly as he gave a snide twitch of his head, "but _not that cute."_

...She swallowed visibly and pursed her lips, but it seemed she knew better than to give him a smart retort.

He was already permitting her get away with more than he should. For all the insult she had given him, a few broken bones was too kind to her.

But he couldn't do it. He wouldn't be able to do it. Nothing had made it more clear to him than when he had seen her soulful eyes brim with tears as she lamented over something that wasn't there. The strong and powerful shinobi had swallowed back bile and his heart had twisted into a tight, inextricable knot. Uchiha Madara had realized then and there that he couldn't lift a finger with the intention to inflict pain upon her. It plagued him and aggravated him:

The awareness that his woman was suffering.

"...How will you respond?" she asked him instead.

But it didn't mean that he could just let her do whatever she pleased. He could not call himself the head of a renowned and disciplined clan if he could not control _his own woman. _

"It has all become quite simple, hasn't it?" Madara drawled in his light, arrogant tone, casually seating himself down on the carpet of grass and fallen leaves. The ebony-haired man propped his elbow against the flat edge of a large grey rock behind him in an obnoxious display of boredom. "For as long as I retain my influence," he arched his long, mocking eyebrows as he rested his head against his hand _"you are mine."_

She continued to stare down at the ground below her feet, at nothing in particular. She was aware of what she this meant, clearly and irrefutably. The woman was shrewd enough to know that it would be too great a risk to take steps to bring about his downfall with her own hands.

"Heh." A sleek, sinister smirk twisted his lips. Madara told her, tauntingly, "Don't think that I will give you a chance to betray me."

...

"...Then there is no problem, is there?" she asked quietly, dispassionately, as if no one was present. But it was as close to agreeing to his terms as she was going to get.

She would hate him. She would definitely hate him for this. But it was a gamble he had to make.

He needed more time.

"Unacceptable." His sharp, calculating gaze rested on her. A slow smirk touched his lips. "That is," the long ebony-haired shinobi leaned his head back arrogantly, telling her, "not even the suspicion that this kind of agreement exists between us will be permitted."

...She looked at him expressionlessly.

It was as if with all her cunning and wile, she couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

"Then..." in a monotone "...how must I meet those expectations?" she listlessly asked.

Worse than the cruel words she used to scorn him; worse than the dread she used to address him. She sounded...

empty

It took a moment for him to recollect his purpose. That's right, Madara thought darkly, eyes narrowing as he watched her. Even if it caused him displeasure, he couldn't allow himself to be affected by her every little gesture. She was too haughty; beautiful and reckless. He would tame her.

Into a woman whom he could freely adore.

Uchiha Madara gazed lazily up at her with his intense, half-lidded eyes. Instead of answering her directly, he let her know, "We're not leaving here till you have mastered the appropriate conduct."

Finally she looked at him with her blank gaze. "Does the head of a mercenary clan have so much time to spare?"

What a pity, Madara thought with a wry smirk tugging at his dark lips. It almost sounded like she cared.

"Fear not." Arrogant drawl. "You seem like the type who can pick up things quickly." Quirking a long eyebrow, Madara asked tauntingly, "Unless you want to spend longer here." Adding mockingly, "Alone."

...She didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing a visible reaction from her.

"So that you know," Madara said lazily, "This is where Izuna and I once trained. There are predators lurking in these woods."

She pursed her lips. "You need not say. any more." Her rigid and broken sentences. "Simply tell me."

"Call me _'Husband'_," he commanded, both of his long thin eyebrows arching up as if daring her to object.

...

The smirk once again found itself on his dark, luscious lips. Madara held out a dismissive hand. _"Come here, _my sweet wife."

...She hesitated, but at last she came forward and lightly rested the tips of her fingers on his hand.

Her hand was cold.

"Show me," Madara commanded, his voice darkly seductive. Unconsciously, he thumbed over her knuckles. "Your determination."

...Heh. What a heartless gaze. The look which she bestowed down upon him was uncanny, unseeing. He didn't even reflect in her eyes.

"Kiss me." He wasn't going to allow her the comfort of distancing herself away. Pulling her towards him, he asked tauntingly of her, "Or can you still not accept your fate?"

"...Fine," she murmured, lifting her guarded gaze to meet his.

She might've been able to fool a normal person. But he was a high-class ninja. Her heartbeat, her breath, even down to the minuscule fluttering of her lashes: none of those escaped him.

She reacted strongly to his proximity. The only thing left for him to find out was whether that reaction was entirely negative.

A low chuckle sounded deep inside his throat. "What's wrong?" Madara prompted her, causing her to jolt and to snap back to the present.

...

She kneeled next to him, not caring that her light-coloured yukata would get dirtied by the forest floor. Subtle signs of distress flitted across her gentle features as she leaned forward hesitantly towards him. He supposed it wasn't entirely easy for her to be asked to initiate an act of intimacy with someone who was nearly her kneeling height even he was reclining. But he had no intention of assisting her.

_'Now,' _Madara thought to himself as she drew near, the scent of her skin embracing him, and feeling his own body's immediate response. _'Can you live up to your words?'_

It was as though suddenly...inexplicably...she didn't know what to do in this situation. He could see her struggling with her balance, but she didn't want to touch him. She didn't know what to do with her hands. She didn't want to meet his eyes. She reached for his shoulders, but hesitated. In the end she only angled her head slightly and shut her lovely dark eyes.

And pulled away abruptly.

"-Ugh..."

...Madara watched, his sharp, handsome features impassive, as the young woman lurched to one side and shielded her mouth with her hand.

He supposed he had his answer.

"...F-Forgive me," she said between gasps. The mark of fear was evident in her shattered composure.

"I must seem that repulsive to you," Madara nonchalantly observed, unmoving from his position. He saw her flinch under his piercing stare.

"T-That's not what it is," she denied hastily.

...He lifted one long, arrogant eyebrow. "Ah." Uchiha Madara was not convinced, and he let it be known. "Then what is it?"

Her lips quivered as she meant to tell him her excuses, but then she halted.

...It was a rather sudden and unexpected silence.

"It-..." she staggered to her feet "...-excuse me...-"

Cold, commanding voice. "Did I say you may rise?"

She stopped in mid-step. Apparently she had forgotten their arrangement already.

Sharply. "Come here!" Madara ordered.

...

...The young woman swayed slightly on her feet. But slowly, ever so slowly, she turned back to him.

Though there was no evidence of tears in her eyes, his chest twisted into a tight knot.

"What is this?" he asked aloud, rising up so that he could take a better look at her face, lifting her chin with his hand. "The mere act of kissing me distresses you this much?"

...She did not respond.

He might as well confront it directly. Unable to find the humour to taunt her now, Madara asked her seriously, "You hate me that much?"

She parted her lips, and he could see it was on the tip of her tongue to say, 'yes'. But she refrained.

_"Tell me," _the Uchiha clan's tall and overbearing leader commanded.

Voice cool and soft, she asked him, "...What do you want me to say, Ma-...ah, no...my lord husband?" He didn't mistaken the flash of disdain in her eyes as she addressed him as such.

He replied to her confidently, arrogantly. "I have told the entirety of my sentiments before an audience. It is only fair," Madara remarked.

Her lips pursed: the indication that he had upset her. She hugged her arms.

"Selfish."

"Arrogant."

"Insensitive."

Madara's eyebrow quirked only slightly as she began listing.

"Persistent bastard."

He felt his brows start to furrow into a frown.

"Intolerant brute."

Abruptly. "So you only have bad words to say for me!" Madara snapped.

She chewed on her bottom lip.

Hesitation. "W-well...Madara-sama...Madara-sama is..."

Madara arched an eyebrow. "Ah," he observed. "What happened to calling me your husband?"

...She tightened her jaw but ignored him. "Ma-Madara-sama is..."

The vibration in his throat on verge of a growl. "What?" Madara demanded in exasperation, almost certain that she was doing this on purpose. "What am I, exactly!"

"Ughn." She gritted her teeth.

It was worse than trying to get anything out of Izuna when he decides to be difficult. He couldn't even exchange blows with her the way he would in a vain effort to get his shrewd brother to talk.

Madara snidely demanded, "Well! Let's hear more complaints."

"There's a reason why women don't do this!" she snapped back unexpectedly, taking him by surprise.

...

Huffing, the small woman stepped aside, away from him. She managed to regain her composure before answering him.

"...You materialized out of the night. As all ninja do. The thieves of the night who steal lives away when their victims felt that they were safest. My first impression of you..." she admitted placidly "...was no exception from the rest."

With indifference. "Even so...for the simple humans living within the confines of roles and inhibitions...Madara-sama's presence..." blinking "was far more terrible."

"Such confidence," she recalled, "Such power. A charisma and life force which makes people want to entrust their lives to him. Even I..."

She trailed off into silence.

"Even you?" Madara prompted when she did not go on.

"Even I," she admitted, grudgingly continuing, "thought you were magnificent."

There was no way he was hearing things correctly.

"But I've only ever seen you as foe," she informed him. "...You...made me _fear."_

One word which said it all.

"You...brought it all back," she said, her shivering voice no more than a whisper. Bolts of alarm shot through him. She appeared like her legs would give out at any moment. He was prepared to catch her.

"...You asked me if I am not afraid of you," she recalled. One hand reached up to clutch her yukata over her chest. "Madara-sama," she said, _"..._even my _heart shakes."_

He felt himself stiffen at her words.

And who can blame him for his conduct back then? He was _Uchiha Madara_, a fast-spreading symbol of fear in the shinobi world. What he cannot obtain by force, he will pry away through cold-blooded manipulation. Who would have thought...that the meek little servant girl he had caught trying to slip him poison...who would have thought she would turn out to be the very woman whom he would vow to cherish?

"...When you brought me to the Uchiha stronghold," she was saying, "I had been fully expecting to be killed. And if that is not so, then to be subjected to a fate worse than death..."

A fate worse than death. She meant being made into a sexual slave. Rather suddenly, Madara recalled that he had intentionally told Izuna to get her settled down in his quarters while she was watching. He couldn't deny that he hadn't been without impure intentions...but not once had he suspected that she would be untouched. Not with her kind of beauty.

'And so?' a voice in the back of his head asked him sinisterly. 'You're saying you'd have treated her differently if you had known? _You, _who is unsympathetic to all those who've wronged you.'

Interrupting his thoughts; "Why...did you make me your wife?" she coldly asked.

"I knew then that you didn't plan to kill me. But Madara-sama. Was it not enough that you held my life in your hands? You want me to suffer more?"

"And so what?" Madara spoke up arrogantly. "You would have preferred to left an insecure position in the clan! I made you my wife!" he near bellowed.

...

"I didn't ask you to make me your wife," she replied with averted eyes.

He grabbed her arm. "But I did!" he retorted sharply.

That made her hesitate. Then she pulled her arm away, and was breathtakingly captivating when she spun on him.

_A proud, majestic woman. His partner._

"I hated you. Hated you," she stated coolly. "Even when I knew I only had myself to blame, I hated you."

"But, I thought that...if it was you..." she trailed off, then started again. "You would be able to protect me."

Unthinkingly, Madara reached a hand to cup her face. To protect her, to pleasure her and to provide for her. Did she no longer think that he would be able to do those things?

"You weren't the man I thought you were," she quietly admitted.

"I will protect you!" Madara insisted, his volume impressive. "I gave you my word that I will never harm you! There is nowhere safer for you than here at my side!"

A slow blink. She responded in a toneless voice, "Do you not desire me to speak further?"

He clenched his jaw.

She gave a little scoff. "...You were not the man I thought you were," the young woman resumed unhurriedly. "...I found out that much during the two weeks you led the warriors to war."

"Madara-sama," she said, "is an autocratic man; a man quick of temper and tactless of command; and a vengeful man who is merciless to his enemies. But," she claimed, "not once...have I detected a trace of true terror in the way his clanspeople regarded their leader." She glanced up at him briefly before continuing, "Because Madara-sama...is the type of man who will absolutely. not inflict harm upon someone had they not gone against him first. Because he is the type of man who will never go back on his word."

"I..." the black-haired woman said solemnly "...took advantage of your sense of duty."

"I...dug into the trust your people had for their leader," she admitted. Then, just barely, she gave him a side view of her tiny, knowing smile. "While knowing that as long as those of your clan were watching, you would be reluctant to direct your rage at me. While at the expense of your anger and your humiliation," she calmly said, "I...created a sanctuary for myself."

...Madara slanted his head to one side, arms folding. "Really now?" he stressed arrogantly, his long bangs curtaining one sharp eye. "You believed I would be able to carry out none of my threats?" the tall, black-clad shinobi asked her tauntingly.

"Pff." She surprised him again with her reaction. "No, forgive me," she said breezily. "I was under the impression that Madara-sama was holding back because he didn't wish to harm a woman who was defenseless. Turns out that it was simply in Madara-sama's nature to take out his anger on random faultless shinobi."

Madara rolled his tongue inside one cheek, looking away because he knew it wouldn't be wise to argue with her there. Her opinion of him was already low enough as it is.

"Even so..."

...

One long thin eyebrow arching up. "Even so?" Madara prodded when she paused for too long.

She looked to him.

"They are fortunate, Madara-sama. It is not uncommon for great leaders to set their sights so high that they are blinded to those suffering beneath them." Another light, harmless scoff. "Is it because you are still young: passionate and headstrong? You think you can take on the world, and still make everyone happy."

"Even so..." a faint, dry smile as she stared off to the distance "...I hope you never change."

She went silent, dark eyes glazed over as she was lost in her thoughts.

Until she sensed his movement.

"...How selfish, Madara-sama," she stated with an air of accusation, glancing over at him only for a brief moment before pretending to be absorbed in watching the slow, uneven descent of a falling leaf.

"You don't need me. You already have such capable and devoted figures at your side... Yuzuzu-hime-..." her voice lowering "...Yuzuzu-hime only has me."

But her complaint only drew forth a cunning smirk from Uchiha Madara's darkly alluring lips. She probably hadn't a clue how pleased her previous comment had made him.

His long black mane rippled over her neck and shoulder as the tall, black-clad shinobi spoke tauntingly beside her ear. "I am a selfish man," he conceded, witnessing her shiver. "And a jealous man. You should know that better than anyone else," Madara reminded her in a low, velvety voice.

He could definitely sense it if not hear it now. The erratic palpitating of her heart.

"Pity any man who will catch your fancy," Madara told her crisply, warningly. "If it were not for the fact that he was the one who kept you safe-..."

She pushed away from him, shaking. "You've said enough," she told him weakly.

Had he overdone it? Madara briefly thought to himself. It was the truth.

Emotions flashed across her delicate features. Her recovery, however, was swift as expected. Then with a hint of vengeance, she informed him wily, "If that is how you truly feel..." causing him to clench his fists at his sides, "never. let me out of your sight."

The tension between them was palpable as she locked eyes with him defiantly. How. dared she?

His dark countenance betrayed his anger and jealousy. Even if she couldn't see his chakra unfurling, she could surely feel it. Enough to cause her to edge back half a step.

"I see."

Her hair was soft and smooth as it wounded around his fingers. "If you were any more aware of the fact that you are alone with me at this moment," observed Madara, "you wouldn't try to provoke me." Lowering his voice. _"I don't know what I may do."_

"Your smooth skin, your sweet voice; even to the direction of your gaze," Madara said authoritatively, possessively. "I am unwilling to let it go."

His hand bracing the back of her neck. "Yet, you don't seem to mind that, do you?" he asked smoothly.

...

Her lashes lowered over her eyes. She then let out an obvious sigh. "What's this...? There really is no way to compare the two of you," she mused aloud, and her voice a flat, breathless murmur.

"You are strength. You are change. You are what people's nightmares and naive dreams are made out of. And perhaps..." her eyes closed briefly "...just the type of man I have been waiting for."

His eyes widened in utter incredulity.

Her gentle, pretty eyes still veiled by her dense black lashes, she commented, "Perhaps if there is still one thing you are lacking...it is a woman who shares your vision there by your side..."

...It was perhaps the first time a member of the female sex had ever spoken well of him with detached emotion. And yet for the first time Uchiha Madara felt he finally understood what was meant by the saying that even the surest of men sought the approval of his woman.

He hadn't thought it possible: For him, who had devoted his entire attention to his clan. For one mere female to make him feel elated one moment, completely devastated the next. But here she was before him, due to a strange twist of fate no one could've foreseen. He didn't know when or why this came to be, but this was the one female whom he had recognized as his woman.

"But Madara..." She looked up at him, interrupting. He saw it in her eyes before he even heard her say it. "...that woman...will not be me."

_Thum-thump._

What she just said-what cold eyes she gazed at him with.

"You lie to me," Madara accused her. "You say this when you've shown me how lively you were before that incident? Why would you allow me a taste a heaven before plunging me down to hell!"

"Madara..." she said with unease.

"I won't ask for more than that," Madara told her. "I want us to return to the way we were. That's all."

...

An uncomfortable pause. She looked away. "...The reason why I had behaved that way then..." she admitted "was because I had already resigned to my fate. I simply wanted to see if I could carve myself a place at your side."

Pause.

"I was so foolish."

The pain festering inside his chest. Grew.

"I get it," Madara said curtly. Tsch. Wretched woman. A snide twitch of his head; quirking his long, arrogant eyebrows. "You want me to apologize properly, is that it?"

He grasped hold of her hand.

"Then I'll apologize," Madara said stiffly, getting down to one knee and causing her eyes to widen in disbelief. "I was wrong. I hurt you. I made my woman suffer. I will not rest until you forgive me. That's what you want to hear." His words were blunt and awkward despite his best effort to swallow back his pride. "Are we good?"

...

"You are so dense!" she snapped, taking him by surprise for the countless number of times that day.

She bit her lip at her own outburst. Wringing her hand away, the small female turned from him, arms wrapping around herself. Her nails dug into her arms.

"...I..."

He could tell she was battling with herself.

"I don't despise you!" she snapped angrily, perhaps trying to convince it to herself. "I don't despise you! Even I am not obstinate enough to scorn a man who will cast aside his pride to show me he can change. But..."

...Sweet words. Devastating words. Unfortunate that he knew what was following her admission would not be what he wanted to hear.

She sucked in a breath. "...But as long as an opportunity presents itself...I will..." clenching her jaw "...leave you."

He started towards her.

_'...The reason why I had behaved that way then...was because I had already resigned to my fate.' _

And paused as he reprocessed those words.

_'...But as long as an opportunity presents itself...'_

An opportunity that had presented itself? His sharp eyes narrowing in realization. Damn it, Madara inwardly cursed.

"Izuna," he seethed through gritted teeth.

...There was no doubt about it. It was his younger brother who had done something that had shaken her resolve. When was this? What exactly did Izuna say to her?

She answered him absently. "...You have raised him well, that man... With his eyes he had seen through the danger of allowing a futile union as ours to continue on. Madara-sama..."

She stood still amidst the quiet falling leaves, the early evening sun lending a glow to her soft contour. A translucent mask of wistfulness on her delicate features.

"...You are a man who can understand what I mean when I say this..." she said coolly. "...Will you remain stubborn...despite knowing that you can only ever be placed second?"

He reacted quite naturally to her question, as a man would in response to being told that he was not the one meant for her.

...Anger. Indignity. Regret.

He cursed the unchangeable fact that he wasn't the one who had discovered her first. Cursed the fact that he wasn't the one who had saved her from depths of despair; wasn't the one who had won her lukewarm smiles of gratitude. Cursed the fact that he was the villain in their little drama.

He would have treated her like a queen. He could give her a future far greater than that of a meager palace servant. Her life was wasted on serving a mistress without ambition, and on a mere soldier who couldn't even protect her.

"Who you loved."

He would not lose to that."What you cherished."

He definitely won't lose to that.

"Whether you were a true gem or an angel that fell straight to hell," Madara continued curtly. "In

truth I couldn't care less."

An arrogant eyebrow arching up. "You wondered why I never bothered to ask about your past?" Madara asked her in his light, arrogant voice.

"The things you experienced, the things you've done; none of those matter to me," he told her brusquely. His voice rising. "I may not be able to extinguish the ghosts of your past," Madara conceded. Bellowing, "But I am your future!"

"Who are you looking at!" he demanded sharply, frightening her with his intensity. "Where is your gaze going towards!" The eyes that never looked at him, but only appraised him up against some internal standard; only compared him to someone else. "I am right here!" He was the one who had gained the right to stand before her. He was the one she should be thinking about. Grabbing hold of her arm, "I will not be ignored!" Madara asserted forcefully.

"I...-" she started.

"Think about yourself before you spew out these cowardly excuses!" he ordered harshly. "Do you think you can live peacefully after you leave here, with all that you know about this clan!"

He forced her to look up at him. "Can you tell me that you don't even have one damn reason to stay by my side!"

She was seeing him now, her shoulders tense and her eyes wide. Her heart thundering as loud as his breaths were harsh. Small beads of cold sweat even materialized at her temples.

The two of them. A pointless rage. A pathetic cause.

The hardest battle he'd ever fought.

All for just this one female.

...

"I need someone," Madara said, letting go of her arm and returning to his cool, arrogant demeanor from before.

"Someone who will not betray me for power, nor affects, nor threat of death," he stated. "Compared to that," Madara remarked confidently, "Exerting my power to protect her people-is still less a cost."

...

_'Liar,' _her eyes said. _'You, need me?' _But she lowered her gaze and kept her peace, contemplating in her silence.

...It seemed an eternity before the small delicate woman pursed her lips lightly. "...I see." Lackadaisically. "...If that's how you truly feel..." a slow blink "then I have nothing more to say." She looked away.

"...The rest is in your hands."

...

That was it, then? A small frown of suspicion furrowed his brow. That was all there was to it?

He'd have expected more resistance. No, rather, he couldn't believe she had given in.

...She appeared...tired.

"You're saying you are fine with this?" Madara asked. Reaching forward, he cradled her smooth jaw in the palm of one hand. "You will accept me as your lord and husband?"

Her thick lashes fluttered as her gaze rose up to meet his. At the same instant he felt something tug at the base of his heart.

Her gaze drooped. Her pale lips parted ever so slightly, drawing his gaze to her pouting lips and smooth, elegant neck.

When...had she gotten so much lovelier?

"...Well," her soft, feminine voice interrupted his musings. "...There is just one more thing..."

So there was something else after all. But at the moment, Madara couldn't care less. "Say it," he told her, confident that he would grant her any wish in order for her to acknowledge him as her one and only man.

She responded in a low, unabashed whisper.

_"Let me hit you just once."_

His long eyebrows shot up, but before he could even utter a word a sharp pain punctured his shin. Hit him, she said? She kicked him! With all the strength she had in her.

Uchiha Madara's eyes narrowed murderously as she moved away from him, sighing and shaking her head helplessly from side to side as though she couldn't believe he actually fell for that.

She gasped as he grabbed hold of her wrist, twisting her arm behind her back.

"M-Madara."

Her back was pressed up against his solid muscled form, and she swallowed thickly.

"...I-I am not going to apologize," she said bravely.

Apologize? He couldn't care less about that. It was as if with that one simple, honest act, a tremendous burden had been lifted away from his shoulders.

By the gods, he found her defiance irresistible.

Uchiha Madara let out a dark, throaty chuckle, his free hand finding its way to her breasts; kneading one then the other and causing a shudder to run through her.

"What is there to apologize for?" he asked smoothly, smirking at her body's response. "I did say that you can hit me as much as you want-..."

She let out another soft gasp as he spun her around, losing her balance. But he caught her before she hit the forest floor.

Leaning over her to say speak next to her ear, Madara reminded her, _"-but only when we're making love."_

Easing her down, he slipped his hand under the bottom of her kimono, lifting the hem just a little bit. Her breathing quickened, her pupils dilating.

She was beautiful.

He simply couldn't control his own staggering need whenever she looked at him expectantly like that.

Her skin was soft and smooth as he slid his hand up her calf. Her rosy lips parted as though she wanted to speak, but only the sound of her trembling breath came out.

He hadn't mistaken the desire she felt for him. It came through in her words: Her admiration and her appreciation. Though she might not have forgiven him yet, she didn't resent the fact that a man like him was her husband.

But can she really come to accept him as she claimed?

"Madara," she said as he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her into a more compromising position beneath him. He arched a thin, questioning eyebrow down at her.

"Wait." Her voice was caught in her throat. Was she going to tell him to stop? If she truly had accepted him, wherefore the reservation?

His hand found its way beneath her sash, able to loosen it any time.

"N-not here," she said between gasps as he nipped and licked at her neck, distracting her. "I-I feel exposed-a place like this..."

A smirk as he asked her in a light, mocking tone, "My dear, who is going to see us?"

As if on cue, a little white ball of fur entered his line of sight. The small cub sniffed at her hair, licked its nose and looked at him, no doubt puzzled about what its masters were actually doing.

...

"Ah." He grabbed the insolent creature from the back, rising up. "We'll be having bear meat."

"You-you can't eat it," she protested, horrified.

* * *

"Eat," he ordered her.

"Ah..." She snapped out of her trance, seeing all the fruits he had foraged for her.

She had been slipping in and out of a deep contemplative state ever since they had come to that fragile truce. Just what was bothering her to be distracting her like this?

Hesitantly, the young woman picked up one red-coloured fruit from the pile in her lap.

"Awmf..."

She looked down at the small cub that was staring up at her.

She held it out to the white furred animal.

It bit into the fruit, taking it from her. And then spat it back out. But immediately it wanted another.

She was handing it a fourth one when he finally lost patience.

"What are you doing!" Madara snapped, causing her to drop some more from her lap in startlement-much to the delight of the small cub.

She picked up the cub and placed it in her lap, obviously wary of his threats of eating the small creature. It was unfortunate that the cub had gnawed through the rope around its neck before he had trained it properly. It didn't look like she was about to trust him with it anytime soon.

"If you don't want to eat these, I'll go find something else!" Madara bellowed.

She looked at him expressionlessly. Then looked away.

He frowned. It was like she was deliberately avoiding something. Was she afraid that he would force himself upon her?

"Sorry..." she said absently. "Even though you went through the trouble...I'm a bit tired..."

He had half the mind to force her to eat something, but refrained. She did seem dreadfully weary. He wasn't about to make her swallow something she'd throw back up soon after.

Annoyed as he was, Madara knew he probably shouldn't rush things. "Come here."

She looked at him, first surprised, then with a look which clearly asked if he were insane.

"I-" she started to protest, unwilling to lay down next to him as he beckoned.

"Freeze then!" Madara snapped.

...

"No one else is here to judge your decisions," he remarked bluntly. "You want to suffer by yourself?"

...She pursed her lips, but was too tired to argue with him.

A moment later she settled down, completely rigid, next to him on the thick grass. A triumphant smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, but she couldn't see it anyway. She opted to face away from him.

How the young woman stiffened even further than how rigid she was already was beyond him. But she did, when he wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her flushed against him. One of his long legs crossed over both of hers, and he propped one elbow beneath her head, allowing her to use it as a cushion.

Hardly a comfortable arrangement for her. "...So possessive," she voiced her toneless complaint.

A darkly seductive chuckle. "What better way to protect you, my dear?" Madara asked her sensually, taunting. But they both knew that if it were about protection or warmth, he could have simply made a fire. It would've been effortless for him.

Heh. At least, she was willing to let him have this much. Even if their close proximity was causing his earlier discomfort to come raging back. If she felt the proof of his desire for her, she gave no indication.

He listened to the sound of her breathing, aware of her every little movement, aware that she was still wide awake. He didn't need to see to know that she still had her eyes open, staring before her while lost in her thoughts.

After a while she seemed to loosen a bit of her tension as exhaustion started to get the better of her.

"Tell me honestly..." he heard her say softly.

"When you are carrying out a job to kill..."

"Do you ever...feel anything...?"

"Do you ever...get haunted by their last words...?"

"Do you ever...repeat scenes in your dreams...?"

"Do you ever...wonder if they were leaving someone behind...? Someone who loved them dearly," she said quietly. "Someone whose world would be changed by that grief."

"Do you ever think that maybe one day, that karma will catch up to you? _Madara."_

He was already tensed up since the start of her questioning. He didn't know the exact reason behind her asking, but from what he had gathered about her past, he had a pretty good idea. Either way, it was certain that how he answered her would be decisive to how she thought of him.

Uchiha Madara shifted his arm, lifting his upper body so that he could at least view her profile. "You're right," he told her with an arrogant twitch of his head. "I don't feel anything." He felt her stiffen.

"When I take them down by the dozens; when my blade rips through them before they could scream."

"Whether they be women, children, or the elderly. Whether they be previous allies or the very ones who we have fought to protect at an earlier time."

"Whether they screamed, cried, or begged for me to spare their loved ones."

_"Nothing," _he said. She was absolutely still.

And what did she expect him to say?

He was a ninja, belonging to a race whose only worth are determined by how quick and efficiently they could kill. Not even she could change that fact.

Knowing that she had been upset by this, Madara brushed her hair back and leaned in stealthily next to her ear, _"But," _he told her,_ "it's not like I enjoy it either."_

_..._

Whether that admission put her mind at ease, he couldn't tell. She sighed out a breath she seemed to have been holding.

"How strange..." she murmured, her eyes drifting close. Armed with poorly executed sarcasm, she commented before giving into the call of slumber, "...I don't think I feel the least bit of sympathy for you..."

* * *

**...**

I think I will really die of awkwardness this time... acri! Stop laughing!

I don't think I can ever write for a male as main character...why did my instincts tell me to stick with Madara's POV the entire chapter... Hey...if there are any guys reading this...please give me suggestions to how I can improve things...for future references and such...

**Unknown:** Apparently, Mersea' only comes back to life every other 2 months. Bah.

**Nisroc:** ;w; no Madara torture this time~

**Mizu-Puff:** Er...I'm not offended. It's not like I intended to make any of my characters perfect after all xD It's always good to invoke a reaction from readers, don't be afraid to say what you want about them?

**Vampy-Bitch:** Yes! That is the beauty of fanfics...especially because I've made this story set in Madara's (nonexistent) past, and therefore there exists a noticeable difference from the Madara you might be familiar with. And no amount of other fanfic authors' personal interpretation is going to influence mine, hohoho. Just bear through the uneasiness for now~

**Yamilian:** You're right! It helps me a lot, too, to ponder about my characters' pasts. It's great in getting the characters to come to life and have a will of their own...until I lose control over them...and they wreak havoc...and then I have to figure out how to mend the situation =w=

**Devil-Angel:** Will there be more Katamori in future chapters? Maybe. Is he gonna just fade away? Maybe. ...You see I'm not too good with answering those kinda questions 8D About the seduction request...lolll. I don't want to spoil anything. Just keep reading (with your fingers crossed)~ Oh my, a fellow psych student! I need to be on my best behaviour from now on!

**CRdragonPyro: **I also like whenever she turns things around in their fights...I think he's won this one though ;w;

**Ghille Dhu:** And I cannot write a non-romance to save my life...I think we should even out our writing abilities with each other...

**Dark Desdemona:** I-I shall work hard! ;w; No spoilers for you even though I am thankful for your encouragement~

**Reclun:** Teehee, you have a good eye for plots, I can tell you read a lot. Just to warn you, though, I am not a very predictable writer ;)

**lovexconspiracy:** Thank you, thank you for reading! I hope I didn't cause any lost studying time for you... I will strive to do my best to make this story one that can live up to such high expectations o,o

**rose de sable:** Alors, je me sens honoree que quelqu'un aime tellement cette histoire qu'elle est le lire dans une autre langue! Je suis desolee, mon francais n'est pas bon xD Mais merci, merci beaucoup!

**Nemrut: **lol, it's always good to hear praise for my OC-centered story. It means that I've come a long way -guilty cringe-

**white-washed walls:** Wow~ Someone who actually votes for Katamori! Well I suppose most readers want an exciting male lead in a fictional romance story, not a plain, nice one. Tsk. ikr? And Madara's wingman saves the day!

**Scribbie:** So I finally stop procrastinating on that other site and got around to finishing this chapter... ;w; Praise me!

**Crimson:** lol, she is quite conceited, isn't she? Ah, the foolishness of youth...

**Thank you all for following and for your comments! Please continue reading despite my weird update schedules!**


	27. Her Pygmalion II

**A/N: **There's nothing less motivating than losing your saved work and having to do it all over again...ugh.

Why can't I get the chapter title to center align? ;w; oh-it worked!

* * *

**Till You Die**

25_ - Her Pygmalion II_

* * *

She woke to a growling stomach.

...At least, that was what she thought it was. Turned out to be the small cub purring against her in its sleep.

...What was this...?

It didn't wake when she sat up, and whatever that had been draped over her shoulders fell to the ground. A shirt...? The shirt Madara had been wearing... She then recalled everything.

Loreli looked around her, but all that met her eyes were wood, grass, and earth. He would be nearby. Hesitantly, she picked up a few of the fruits he had left for her and went searching.

Clearly he had been lying about there being predators in the woods if he felt it was fine to leave her by herself.

* * *

It was the worst possible timing.

_"Madara-sama...the Sorairo Clan..." _

Damn, Madara recalled with a dark frown, fisting his hands. Why did it have to be now?

The young woman yelped at the shock of cold, splashing back away from the tiny waterfall. Not to be deterred, she went back to it.

This would ruin everything. He hadn't been given the chance to reveal everything to her.

She distracted him with her soft gasps as she struggled to cope with the cold water pouring over her head. He clenched his jaw and had to wonder if she was tormenting on purpose. It wouldn't make sense for her to believe that he wouldn't happen to see her.

Never had Uchiha Madara imagined that he would find himself in a situation where he would be spying on his own wife while she was bathing, but by the gods he didn't want her to stop.

She obviously found it relaxing there, dwindling away time despite knowing that he could be watching. But she was beautiful. She was the first member of the opposite sex who had made him see that females were truly beautiful.

Her pure skin...her soft contours...and her gentlest touches-

Madara snapped his attention to the sound of approaching footfalls.

The small white cub had managed to track her down and was scampering straight in her direction.

_"Awmf-?"_

...

...The young woman stepped away from the waterfall. "...Madara?" she asked. When there was no reply, she shrugged, but then hesitated.

...What _the hell _was he doing?

The small cub made muffled sounds and struggled for its release. He couldn't believe that the great Uchiha Madara had panicked for a split second, like some petty criminal caught in the act.

"...Who's out there?" the young woman asked, picking up her half-dried yutaka and putting it on. She had taken the liberty of giving both their clothes a good rinse in the lake she had stumbled across while wandering.

She relaxed visibly when the small cub scampered up to her, its ordeal a moment ago all but forgotten.

"Oh? It's just you?"

She lifted it from the ground, and the white-furred creature licked its nose. "Why are you so happy?" she cooed.

"-GET DOWN!"

She barely registered that warning before a force sent her sprawling forward.

"Loreli!"

She looked up, heart pounding, to see Madara shielding her; his red eyes aglow and his thick black mane fanning out around him.

"What...is that?" she whispered.

It was some kind of serpent. Enormous. She would describe it as some kind of overgrown snake aside from the fact that its body was lined with fins and it had an armoured head, like a sea dragon. Its slitting, iridescent orbs focused on the both of them and its jaws slacked open.

"Get back!" Madara ordered, facing the monster which was poised for attack.

Loreli shielded her eyes with her arms as a gust of hot air weaved about her. She could hardly see past the roaring flames, but she heard the splash and thrashing of water as the monster returned to the lake. But even before she could blink, it lunged out of the water and straight for Madara with drawn fangs.

But the next instant Madara had smashed it into the ground, tearing up the earth. It let out an angry hiss before she heard the wet crack as he snapped its neck. Its long body twitched a few more times, and then went slump.

"Do you not know the meaning of 'get back'!" Madara's curt voice demanded of her.

"Ah..." Loreli looked up to see his irked red eyes. He knelt next to her, checking for visible injuries.

"I'm-I'm alright..." she told him. She looked beside her to see the small cub lying on its side, still.

...But before her hand reached it, the small creature popped back on its feet. It blinked its large, lazy eyes and came over to her as though nothing was amiss.

...Played dead?

"That's it." Madara's low, solemn voice drew her attention back to him. "We are returning."

* * *

...

...Was it simply her imagination? The arrangement of guards was different.

Well, there was something...of more personal relevance to distract her.

"The 'Mistress of the Clan' was originally a position given to the most influencial kunoichi in the clan, independent of her relationship to the clan head. For him to bring back the title and to bestow it so carelessly, _what a betrayal."_

The kunoichi couldn't have made it more obvious that she was provoking her. She had began speaking out the moment they noticed her enter.

"The Uchiha now needs no clan mistress. And particularly. not one whose loyalty cannot be ascertained."

Loreli spotted the items she had hung up to dry at the far end of the yard, still where she had left them the day before.

"It was by his law that we kunoichi of the clan were banned from battle," the cool, resentful voice drawled. "But he, who is supposed to be the symbol of our clan, broke the long standing tradition to wed someone outside of the bloodline. I would have understood if she were at least a noteworthy kunoichi, but this? A frail, disagreeable girl who looks down on the ways of us ninja."

Situations like these. She wasn't unfamiliar with.

"Well this is the extent of respect he has for us."

...Loreli pulled off the pieces of clothing one by one, folding them with quick expertise before placing them into her basket.

Scoffing. "We are beneath his notice: no more than homemakers for his warriors. What does our opinion matter? Or am I truly to believe that he doesn't realize that being the mistress of a ninja clan is a role different from that of governing over a castle?"

The fact that Madara had allowed the women to run the stronghold however they will, and to do whatever they liked was conveniently unmentioned. Then again, it would be a minor appeasement to the proud kunoichi who are caged within its walls.

...But this wasn't her problem to deal with.

"I am disappointed. Who knew Madara would turn out to be such a selfish, chauvinistic man?"

Grabbing her basket, Loreli turned around with full intention to ignore all of it and leave.

"What do _you _think, _my lady?"_ The kunoichi was by the door, one long leg exposed by her black, slitted yukata as she leaned against the frame. Just when the Uchiha woman had detached herself from the group doing laundry on one side of the room was a mystery. Loreli hadn't heard her move.

...

...She set down the basket. Hesitation. But she looked up straight in the woman's direction.

"I think misdirected jealousy...is the ugliest."

The kunoichi let out what sounded like a cross between a scoff and a laugh. "So you'll even defend him now? Then you tell me, my lady: What is there about you to justify his choice of a clan mistress? If it is not a sign of weakness on his part, what else is there? What is there about _you _that makes you better than any of us?"

...

Steadily, Loreli locked eyes with the taller, mightier woman, articulating each syllable coolly: "I don't know."

Two things happened at once. She saw the kunoichi lift her chin in a haughty manner. The next thing she saw was a blur of movement as someone—or something blocked off her line of sight.

_"Stand back,"_ Uchiha Murata, her shinobi guard, ordered the Uchiha female, who had suddenly advanced to no less than a few feet before her.

"I only wanted to come closer," the kunoichi stated drawlingly in her beguiling voice. The arrogant tilt of her chin was directed at Murata. "Who do you take me for?"

...Wait a minute. And just where had he been all this time? Loreli thought wryly. Left her to the mercy of his shinobi leader, had he?

"...I am alright," Loreli said calmly to his back, though it must be admitted that her heart was still hammering away from the surprise. These weren't the higher-than-thou noblewomen at court who got others to do their dirty work. Each of these deadly kunoichi could have her killed before she saw it coming.

Yet she did not step down. "...If it is only a matter between us women," Loreli calmly explained, "I do not want to borrow his strength."

The two women's eyes met. Whether it was a spark of interest or indignation that lit briefly in those arrogant, sultry eyes, she couldn't tell for certain. Nearly half the kunoichi's face was screened from view by her black, immaculate hair. Even now Loreli still couldn't understand why being half-blind was considered attractive.

"Your name," Loreli said: a demand.

With a cynical quirk of her lips, the kunoichi answered, "Uchiha Agetha. Not that I care if _you _remember it."

As she had suspected. That name belonged to one of the top-notch kunoichi of the Uchiha clan. One who had once dared challenge Uchiha Madara and lost.

No, it wasn't her place to sympathize or to condemn.

"...And what did you expect me to say?" Loreli asked her blandly.

"Plenty in defense of your man, as a matter of fact," Agetha drawled. "He is good to you. Uchiha Madara finally found someone whom he could coddle."

Loreli stared at her evenly, finally responding with, "And what do you want of me?"

A slow smile spread on her lips. The kunoichi told her mockingly, "For you to know that there are plenty of substitutes. All one has to do is to act a little defenseless, play a little at being hard to get. All it needs to stroke his ego. Isn't that right, girls?"

A few others' laughter joined Agetha's. For some reason. It stirred something within her. Hitting too close to home, as it were.

She spoke.

"A little bit of emotion. A tiny hint of weakness." Her voice low and steady, but the place went silent to hear her words. "One or two mistakes that can be attributed to his youth. If he cannot remain perfect in your eyes, then it's better for him to not exist at all?"

"Selfish?" Loreli asked. "Chauvinistic?" That was the reason they believed why he forbade the women to join the battlefield? To exhibit the superiority the men had over them?

"...Is that what you think it is?"

She let out a small, muted laugh, her countenance hardening.

"The pain of losing both parents." Her voice quiet, she said, "The pain of growing up without a parent."

A smothering, tragic sensation. Her eyes unfocused on their own. She shook herself awake.

Loreli clenched her teeth, her voice rising as she boldly looked up, throwing one arm out in emphasis.

"If you do not understand even that, don't you _dare think yourself__ in a position to judge him."_

Just because she had never wanted to become the mistress of a ninja clan didn't mean that she will bow down to anyone who desired to steal her role.

...

"Hah. Haha."

Uchiha Agetha's curt laugh disrupted the heavy silence.

"He really is something, isn't he?" the kunoichi noted with a wry smirk. "Managed to get you from hating him to defending his honour within the space of a day."

_"Agetha," _someone, a woman in the background, said in warning.

"Did you believe his words?" Agetha drawled. "That a man like him would be able to protect you?"

Loreli only stared back.

A tinge of uncertainty, barely noticeable. She rationalized it away.

"The mind is vulnerable after being exposed to emotional pain," Agetha remarked.

_"You didn't suspect anything at all, did you?"_

_..._

...How...did she know this...? Loreli asked herself, motionless. How could she know what had transpire-...

Her arms felt cold, uneasy, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to look to Murata for confirmation.

...

"...What are you saying?" she asked tonelessly, schooling her expression.

But understood she did...even before she would acknowledge the meaning behind those words.

_'Look at me!' _Madara had commanded. His Sharringan had been spinning.

...She glanced to the other women; they avoided meeting her eyes.

The small, illogical things that have escaped her notice...she was starting to question them, now.

"Why don't you ask him for yourself?" Agetha's voice tauntingly suggested to her._ "...If you can trust him, that is."_

"What's the problem here?"

He knew something was amiss judging by the tense atmosphere as he came through the door in search of her, dismissing the councillor who was with him. The two women didn't take their eyes off each other, dismissing his question completely.

"Loreli," Madara said commandingly.

...She looked to him.

"...Very well," she spoke up smoothly, "Then I will ask you directly." Her arms crossed elegantly before her, she peered calmly in his direction; with her cheeks rosy and lips flushed from whatever transpired between her and the Uchiha women before he had shown up. She blatantly asked him, "You haven't been true to me, perhaps?"

Madara tensed, disbelieving his ears. "And who. gave you that idea?" the tall ebony-haired shinobi asked smoothly, darkly: a murderous intent underlying his question.

"How strange..." she commented. "If it were a lie, surely I would have noticed something, at least."

"What are you talking about!" Madara demanded.

To his surprise, however, she only looked to him calmly. She came to him, reaching up to touch the ends of his long black mane. "My...dear husband," she said lovingly. A tug was felt at the base of his blackened and impenetrable heart. Her fingers trailed delicately over his hard, broad chest, her pretty eyes gazing up at him through her long lashes. "...I don't want to believe that the promises you've made me are false."

Instantly a frown darkened his brow, but before he could speak she laid her head gently against his chest, effectively freezing him. "I don't want to believe that you hadn't coaxed me to sleep in your arms..." And as unbecoming as it was for him to reveal that information, Madara felt his arms slip around her waist, drawing her securely to him. She appeared so small, so fragile in his arms; how could he engage in any other course of action?

...

"...Ah," he heard her sigh. "And I certainly. wouldn't want to believe that the dragon you saved me from this morning...was a figment of my imagination."

"Dragon?" Madara arched an eyebrow at her words.

"Well of course," she murmured, her breath making a pleasant vibration against him. "I've never heard of a sea serpent having red eyes, have you?"

The faintest of unease tickled at him for whatever reason, but he brushed it off. "No," Madara agreed, "You are right."

"...Ho."

A touch of sardonicism poisoned her minuscle smile. "Is that how it is, then?" The gaze which she administered to him...was terribly heartless. "How strange that a shinobi such as yourself would sooner forget the colour of the eyes of the monster you've only faced this morning."

He froze.

In a low hiss that only he could hear. _"Hands. off,"_ she demanded.

He should have known better than to release her when she was hurting. Kami knows each time he did it took ages for her to look at him seriously again. But it was the guilt which caused his tightening hold to slacken when he felt her pull away; it was guilt which caused his muscles to lock, and his lips to seal. The guilt that he had irrevocably betrayed her trust.

She took a few steps away, gathering herself.

"Ha...haha." A small laugh escaped her lips. "...I...don't believe this," she slowly, very slowly and quietly admitted. A fierce, chilling apprehension clawed down his back.

But the other side of him, the older, egoistical side of Madara prevented him from reaching out and explaining himself to her then and there.

What was he to tell her? That he had been too angry at the time? That he wouldn't have placed her in real danger? That he hadn't meant for her to find out like this?

No. His proud and beautiful woman did not suffer excuses. And he, reminded of the humiliation she had put him through, was positive he could not utter a single word without sounding defensive.

She turned away.

"...You...actually got back at me," she remarked. Then, while shrugging her slim shoulders and shaking her head helplessly from side to side, she drawled, "...And I was starting to think it weren't possible."

"What?" Madara demanded, incredulous. No, bewildered might have been a better description.

She shrugged and shook her head lightly. "I am not a _completely _irrational woman, perhaps..." she mused, tossing him a wry, sidelong glance. "When I have given a grave insult to the head of a ninja clan," she commented with a light drawl, "I can expect a little retribution."

She might have fooled everyone else, but he. he_ knew_ that stiff set of her jaw.

He took hold of her hand as she stepped away from the scene, no doubt itching to get away from him all too soon.

"Can we talk about this later?" Madara asked her privately, placing emphasis on the last part.

That cool, piercing stare of hers.

"...About what, Madara-sama?" her cool, nonchalant reply.

Definitely angry.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, they were approached by a messenger from the stronghold gates.

"Madara-sama," the shinobi reported, kneeling to one knee. "The Sorairo."

The leader of the Uchiha clan gave a curt nod in acknowledgement. "We will meet them," Madara declared, letting go of her hand as he exited through the door, heading towards the entrance of the Center Complex with his long, powerful strides.

...

"...Couldn't wait to tell me till the last minute, I see," he heard her nonchalant remark as she resolved to follow him at a distance.

His fists clenched at his sides, but he made no further effort to explain. Whatever he must do to get back into her good graces would have to wait till he had dealt with this unexpected visit.

Damned if he didn't regret completely obliterating the Sorairo clan back then when he had the chance.

"Well if it isn't the same Uchiha Madara I recall."

The recently delegated leader of the Sorairo clan greeted him at the yard outside the entrance to the Center Complex, bowing at the waist with both arms crossed before his chest, hands on his shoulders where they could be seen clearly—a sign of subservience. "It has been a while," the shorter man said, lifting his head when Madara stopped a few feet away.

A man who looked weak enough to be mistaken for a woman at a distance stood before him. Features that made him look younger than was, with a lax mannerism to match. Not a single mark of battle marred his skin, though that could speak to his lack of involvement in combat as easily as to his abilities as a top-notch medic.

Uchiha Madara couldn't be bothered to give him his approval, and doubted that was the reason the Sorairo were here. "If this couldn't wait till the next bi-monthly report," Madara said, folding his arms unyieldingly, "this had better be worth the occasion."

A fluid chuckle. "Hey, we are not_ strangers_, are we?" No, not entirely. The Sorairo still gave the same impression of being right at home in any circumstance as he had back then. The man lifted one hand, waving for his men to come forward. "It may have been a short while, but we were companions for a duration of time: you, your brother, and I."

_Thunks_ followed one after another as the dozen Sorairo shinobi behind him came forth and set down large trunks before him, lined up side by side.

The guarding Uchiha shinobi who lined either side of the gathering tensed, but they kept their eyes forward and their hands clasped behind their back as protocol dictated. They would take their cue from their leader, and Madara appeared willing to let it play out. Although he did step one step to the side, making sure that his lady was safely shielded behind him.

"And by my word, was I surprised to learn that you were wed hardly one month ago, without as much as a notice to anyone outside the clan. Then again, you never were one to do things the usual way." At another signal from their leader, the Sorairo shinobi accompanying him flipped open the trunks.

Objects of different shapes and forms peeped out from within the containers. From one, he spotted bundles of silk in pastel sheens no ninja would ever wear. Whatever these were, it didn't seem like they posed an immediate threat. That didn't mean he'd relax his guard, however.

"As an old acquaintance and as the representative of a clan loyal to the Uchiha," the Sorairo said with a lopsided grin, "Did you really think it would be acceptable if we were not to extend our congratulations?"

"Acknowledged," Madara snapped, his arms still folded and his expression stoic. "But completely unnecessary." Already the shorter man's overly familiar attitude was grating on his nerves.

"Of course these are gifts that are of no use to a ninja. But for your lady wife, however..." The Sorairo trailed off briefly. "Speaking of which..."

Madara felt her presence lingering behind him, listening to the exchange between the two heads of their clans. For no apparent reason, a feeling of possessiveness surged through him. He had expected to introduce her when he had learned of their arrival, but now. Now was a bad time.

"The leader of the Sorairo clan, masters of poison and medicine without peer in the surrounding lands. It is an honour," she greeted cordially. Madara observed her giving a respectful inclination of her head from the corner of his eye. His jaw grew taut with displeasure.

The Uchiha bowed down to no one. And neither should she.

"You give us high praise, my lady." In contrast, the Sorairo bowed low to her as he had done to Madara. He lifted his head, and two things happened at once. Her eyes widened a fraction, and her hand unconsciously moved towards her arm, but she caught herself.

The Sorairo, on the other hand, gave not the tiniest indication that something was out of place. "I go by the name Ikezoe," he introduced himself. "I am at your service."

...What was that? Madara's thoughts demanded to know, her reaction not having escaped his notice.

She blinked. Her eyes never leaving the man, she reached to her side and took hold of Madara's arm. "I am Uchiha Madara-sama's wife," she said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She was in her element. "You may address me as such."

Ikezoe light-heartedly acknowledged her words, "As you wish, my lady."

Cool were her fingertips, betraying none of her thoughts. Yet he couldn't have seen wrong.

"Alas, this isn't the only reason why I'm here," the Sorairo clan leader admitted, turning his attention back to him. "You are no doubt aware whre I have spent the majority of my past years," Ikezoe elaborated. "I had not come to you straight away for I had a few things to confirm," he said. "There is... information which would be most useful to you." Having said that, he drew out a scroll from within his sleeve and offered it to him.

...Madara glanced to his side, where Uchiha Murata stood watching the exchange. His order was not lost on the keen perception of the shinobi guard.

"Come," Madara commanded, turning to lead the way to the meeting room. But not before he took her by the arm that she had hooked through his, his thumb rubbing the underside of her wrist. "We'll speak afterwards," he told her, carefully watching her reaction. If she thought anything of his quick reassurance, it didn't appear on her face.

His heart wrenched because she ignored him.

* * *

The throbbing in her head had intensified.

"My lady?"

It was one of the Sorairo shinobi who had addressed her. She recalled in time that the Sorairo were skilled medics who could detect signs of illness at a mere glance.

Loreli gazed to the men the Sorairo clan's leader had left behind. Light, their eyes were; pale as ice. No wonder. She had thought those eyes had been familiar somehow.

"...Ah, follow me then." She might as well clear them away from the entrance they were blocking. She watched as Murata halted the rest of the Sorairo shinobi, signaling that they were not to follow.

"Oh, come now," the young woman persuaded. "They have come this far. Surely the least courtesy we can offer is to allow them to bring in their own gifts?"

No, Uchiha Murata did not seem to approve of this at all. Yet he didn't raise one word in protest.

"Tell me," she said conversationally to the Sorairo shinobi walking next to her, the one who seemed to be in command amongst those who were left behind. "My husband and your new leader: they were well acquainted?"

"To the best of my knowledge, yes, my lady," the man replied. "Ikezoe-san has traveled the lands ever since he was in his mid-teens. From what I've gathered, he had encountered the Uchiha brothers when Izuna was in a bad state. Madara-sama wasn't particularly trustful of just any medic-nin who happened to be conveniently passing through."

"Ah." She could actually picture that.

"All I know is that Ikezoe-san somehow wounded up worse off than Izuna at the end of it," he reported.

...Why didn't that surprise her as much as it should? And Madara wasn't particularly grateful either, considering that he must have known which clan Ikezoe had hailed from.

"Then I must say your leader is most kind in preparing these gifts for Madara-sama's wife," she considered. A thoughtful pause. "How did he find out about me?"

"My lady; in the most recent correspondence, Madara-sama's marriage was mentioned briefly at the end. Our leader was most intrigued by what kind of kunoichi she would turn out to be."

"...Is that so?" Loreli asked lightly, stopping in her tracks. She faced the blue-eyed ninja. "This will be far enough," she informed Murata.

They have come to the end of the hall, the storage rooms up ahead. The group of Sorairo shinobi set down their load and retreated a few steps.

"Then, my lady-" the one she had spoken to began.

"There is one more thing I want to ask," Loreli interrupted leisurely.

Fragrant soaps...ornate aroma sets...and as she had thought, these bowls could only be crafted by a master craftsman. Loreli shook her head wryly. She could just picture one of their faces now, if one of them were in her place. "Does your leader realize that if he were to gift any of these to a kunoichi of the Uchiha clan, she would be gravely insulted?"

The Sorairo hurriedly went down to one knee. "My lady, that was not his intention," the man protested. Why, he actually looked stunned at her reaction.

"...Ah," Loreli set down the bowl in her hand, crossing her arms. "And what was his intention?" she asked lightly, unfazed.

Their eyes met. Whatever he was about to say in response never left the tip of his tongue.

...So, Sorairo Ikezoe, was it?

Her lips pursed tightly together. _You haven't changed._

"Take these back," she commanded coolly, her arms still crossed before her in a defensive stance. "Your leader wants me to whisper a few sweet words in Madara-sama's ear? This is not enough." Leaning forward with her voice dipping, she added with a small, cryptic smile, _"Surely,_ he can offer me something more."

"My lady," Murata interjected, alarmed. But she waved him off.

"Show these men out, will you?" she commanded.

She didn't want to see if they would carry out her order.

Loreli spun on her heel and instantly collided with the muscled wall that was Madara.

She braced her forehead, her vision wobbling.

"Good timing," she managed to say, patting his chest with one hand. "I've just mortally offended your only allied clan. Do take it from here."

He snatched hold of her wrist before she could escape.

"Running away?" Madara's smooth, velvety voice asked next to her ear. A shudder ran through her.

...

"...No," she said back. "Tactical retreat."

"Is that the strategy where you hide and avoid all possible confrontation?" Madara asked in a taunting manner, speaking as though it were something he'd never even had to consider resorting to. She gritted her teeth.

"No, it's where I take some time away from the battlefield to reconsider my strategies," she replied pleasantly, keeping her anger in check.

He, however, linked her arm through his, effectively trapping it. "You're not allowed to reconsider," Uchiha Madara stated with an air of finality.

_What?_

"If that will be all," Ikezoe's voice conveniently intervened. She looked to see the man bidding them goodbye with a low bow, and all her thoughts of Madara were temporarily forgotten. "I believe I have outstayed my welcome."

It was only a brief moment, but she caught his pale, acute gaze on her as he rose, an unsettling smile on his lips. She drew back, only to realize that Madara still held her arm hostage.

"Farewell, fearless leader and his paranoid lady," Ikezoe said with a little backward wave. She stared mutely at his sauve back. He was slim of build, and only of average height; his chin-length hair kept away from his boyish face by a thin black hairband he wore on his head. By all accounts he looked nothing like the typical ninja of a warrior clan. But his eyes...they were not eyes easily forgotten.

"What is there between the two of you?" a dark voice demanded next to her ear.

She jolted, choking on the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. She looked up to see his angry, determined gaze.

There was a fluttering in her throat as she forced out, "...Who, Madara-sama?"

His hand reached up, lifting her chin, thumb pressing against her bottom lip.

"You think you can lie to me?" he softly asked. Deceptively soft. His one visible eye bore into her, and his Sharingan was all but intimidating to her. She wanted to look away.

"...I do not wish to tell you," she said.

"So it is something you can't even share with the man who means to protect you," Madara remarked with a tinge of what may have been jealousy, his long, thin eyebrows arching up.

Her gaze drooped.

"...Oh? And I recall you saying that you won't try to pry into my past," she mused aloud. "...Or was that also part of the illusion?"

That was a low blow even coming from her. He released her abruptly.

It was silent in the main hall of the Center Complex. Those few who happened to pass through did so quickly to escape notice, while straining to appear disinterested in the ever turbulent couple.

Nodding absently, Uchiha Madara folded his arms and paced away from her, then turned back.

"So be it," he said curtly. An arrogant twitch of his head. "What will you have me do?"

She stared blankly at him.

"You are upset with me," Madara stated. "Give me a command and I will have it carried out without fail!"

...

...A wistful smile touched her lips. If only it were that simple, Madara...

It was only when his sharp gaze snapped at her did she realize that she had spoken that aloud.

"You're thinking of leaving me," Madara said, his voice quiet.

Her breath hitched in her throat at the determined look which came over his sharp, handsome features. Her head was spinning.

"Please," Loreli protested even before he started towards her, "not right now—" His mouth slashed over hers and she was instantly falling, falling. But his hand on the back of her head and the other on the small of her back supported her, holding her flush against him.

She didn't attempt to pull away, knowing that it would only incite him further. Yet she shook, trembled at the feel of his lips against her own, at the way his tongue worked to kindle the flame that licked up her abdomen, begging her for forgiveness. Her hands instinctively found his chest, fingers entwining with his long ebony hair.

"Loreli," Madara said against her lips, allowing her the chance to catch her breath.

_—Slap._

That had been poorly executed, unplanned; scoring the side of his jaw instead of its intended target.

She trembled, trying to grasp hold of some of the thoughts that were trickling out of her ears. "You are mistaking something," she whispered shakily. "You wanted a partner who would support you in all things, I was willing to fulfill that role as long as you keep your end of the bargain." The words tumbled out in a rush.

Her voice rising fiercely. "It was never anything more than that!"

...

She was afraid to look up, afraid of what she would find.

"...Just...let me be alone for a little...to gather myself up..." she said feebly.

His thumb brushed over her chin. She was certain he could feel the erratic pulse of her neck beneath his palms.

Then he withdrew from her and left without another word.

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Aren't I the meanest thing to do this to you after taking that long to update? Still gotta follow the script though... This story, for better or for worse, is not bound to end anytime soon, you see. But I promise you that you can look back at this at the very end, and can understand the reason for some of these chapters. I don't create drama I don't believe is necessary...I am against those kinds of fillers in shoujo manga. Like I've always told my precious readers: if you can put your trust in me, I will not disappoint you :)

Let me read over the reviews from the previous chapter again, if there's anything that needs answering, you'll find your name under here in a few minutes~

And I got lazy ;w;


	28. Her Pygmalion III

**A/N: **I did better for this one! Update wise, that is :)

**VampireGirl Shiori Uchiha: **Hopefully this chapter reveals a bit of what's going on, buuut I am not telling you everything, of course ;)

**Crimson: **Then I hope I didn't fail to meet your expectations, haha. And about the tragic ending thing. Interesting. I will say nothing on this matter, but it's good to know that there are so many different types of readers reading right now ;)

**UnwrittenHistory:** Haha, I know the last chapter was rather cryptic. Hopefully this chapter answers your question~

**Littlekirara:** Wowie, it's not often someone writes me an essay xD: Thank you. Many readers (myself included) don't say everything since they think it may not be needed. However, it is helpful for me to be able to receive a full account of a reader's thoughts. It helps me understand where everything is positioned through another person's eyes. I just have to comment, though: based off what I see from your comments and suggestions, you are my type of reader.

**Victorita9:** I like that chapter, too :)

**AndSoHerHeartIsBroken:** I tried! Praise me! lulz.

* * *

**Till You Die**

26 -_ Her Pygmalion III_

* * *

"Give me a moment," Loreli said, rising up from her bed.

Madara wouldn't have bothered rapping on her door when he realized that it was locked. He would have broken down the door or-...he would have needed to break it down anyway.

"Is there a problem?" she asked tiredly, swinging her door open.

The sight of an assertive, half-blinded kunoichi and a few members of her gang was not something Loreli had expected to see.

"You left something of yours in the yard," Uchiha Agetha drawled.

Without waiting for an invitation, the woman carried the basket of clothing into her room. She set the basket by the bed and went to draw the curtains away from the window, instantly illuminating the dark room.

"Oh ho. What is this?" Agetha questioned in distaste, staking claim on a position by her window. "Weren't you the one who claimed that his one or two small mistakes didn't matter? Had to fall back on your own words rather quickly, I'd say."

...

...Loreli let out a soundless sigh, unable to believe that this day could get any more tiresome.

"So which is it...?" she tonelessly asked. "Are you against Madara, or are you actually supporting him?"

A wicked smile quirked up the kunoichi's lips. "That," Agetha replied, "I wonder."

"But if you have use for this room no longer," Agetha went on to say, taking a good look at her surroundings, "I want it for myself."

...Loreli pursed her lips.

"We could get you out of here."

She blinked, uncertain that she heard it right.

"My skills may not have been enough to compete against Madara," Agetha proclaimed, "But I can tell you that the men guarding the walls are no match for our combined abilities."

"...You're saying that you want to..."_ to desert? _Loreli trailed off. That was no simple joking matter.

"It may take time. It may take effort. A clanless ninja will be found out and killed," Agetha said with a shrug. "But _you. _You are not a ninja. You can find a way to convince them to believe that you are someone of importance. We'll be seen as your bodyguards."

Agetha's one visible eye appraised her smugly. "In return, we will keep you hidden."

...

"...You place your lives on the line," Loreli answered coolly. "...Why the faith in someone you've only belittled a bit earlier?"

Agetha might have laughed, but she didn't hear it. Something wicked glinted in the kunoichi's sinfully dark eyes. "Because you're..._interesting."_

...Loreli's eyes fixated on a spot on her wooden floor in contemplation. She drew in a breath she had been stalling to take.

"I'm not here to entertain you."

She brushed by them to get to her door, holding it open. "Leave."

It may have been the reaction they were expecting. There was only a moment's pause before the kunoichi nearest to the door made her exit, the others filing past her one by one on their way out. Loreli made it a point not to glance at any of them as they passed.

Agetha was the last one to remove herself.

"Yet I can't help but notice," the bold Uchiha female voiced in a bored manner, "that you didn't reject us outright."

Loreli said nothing, only watched the woman who was both deadly and alluring.

"Should you ever find yourself interested in an arrangement," Agetha told her as she swept by, her one visible eye trained on her. "You know where to find us."

...

"And you will be waiting for a long time," Loreli replied smoothly. "People of my ability, you can find many. I have neither the desire to become your pawn nor do I need your pity."

A crisp, startling laugh answered her.

"That distrustful and conceited attitude will serve you well, dear lady," Agetha drawled, her chuckling continued to be heard out the door. "Hang onto it."

* * *

"I want that man barred from ever setting foot within the stronghold, do I make myself clear?" Madara demanded with a sneer.

"Yes, Madara-sama. I will send word to Shindara at once."

Whatever connections the current Sorairo clan's leader had to his wife, she had been badly shaken by their meeting. If she had pushed him away, it was a clear sign that said she didn't believe he could protect her. And what was worse: he didn't even have the right to tell her to trust him. Not after-

"Wait."

The councillor halted at his command.

"You are the one my brother sent to investigate her," Madara stated.

Uchiha Yuushun, a genjutsu expert who was not among Madara's group when he had gone to Yukama-tono's castle, was the one who had been entrusted by Izuna to find out about the woman Madara had brought back.

"What have you found that is relevant to the situation at hand?" Madara commanded him to speak.

"If Madara-sama means to ask if there are any direct connections with the Sorairo clan, I am afraid it is more complicated than that," Yuushun replied.

A frown darkening his brow, Madara snapped, "Speak then."

Yuushun obliged with a small bow. "It appears that despite my lady's impressive endurance, she actually possesses a weak constitution. It is the reason why her mother had brought them to the warm climate of the Fire Country when she was but a wee girl."

"An impressive woman, her mother was. Also known as a great beauty found only once in a hundred years."

Madara tapped his fingers against his arm in impatience. The warning was not lost on the ladykiller Yuushun.

Yuushun cleared his throat. "Alas, the way her mother suffered after her father left them had left a lasting impact on the young girl."

Was there a _point to this? _Madara scowled. "A man who left a so-called impressive beauty like you say?" So he'd been exaggerating, had he?

"It's quite simple, really," Yuushun asserted. He then met his leader's eyes seriously. "He wasn't strong enough to protect her."

Madara's eyes snapped wide.

_What._

"Her mother remained serving as lord Yukama's concubine for the duration of time she lived in the Fire Country. My lady grew up to be a stunning beauty, showered with the promises of men and unable to place her faith in any of them."

_'But, I thought that...if it was you...you would be able to protect me.'_

He hadn't realized exactly how much it meant for her to think that.

**-Slam.**

Rock chipped off the sizable dent in the marble column as Madara withdrew his fist. His face a mask of calm arrogance, Madara arched a long, thin eyebrow. "Get to what I want to know."

Another small bow from Yuushun.

"Three incidents stand out in particular. In her thirteenth summer, she admitted to a crime and was punished by a brutal whipping. The young princess found out and put a stop to it, and in the end another servant girl was sent away from the castle. If that had not left scars, then it must have taken the best the princess could find to heal her."

"The facts revolving around the second incident have been hushed. Rumour has it that it had to do with a visiting lord. My lady was either shoved, had slipped, or had jumped from the roof of second floor. Those who have seen the result of that described a pool of blood. She injured the side of her head, and is actually unable to recall this incident. But the marks beneath her hair are there. This event was kept from her, as they thought it would be best to do so; particularly because there was not much to be done about a nobleman of that rank."

_'I'll kill him,'_ Madara noted darkly to himself, livid at the knowledge that someone who had caused her suffering had lived.

"Needless to say," Yuushun thought to mention, "my lady wasn't too pleased to find out that they've been hiding this from her. For someone who is not a ninja, she does have a way of...teasing the truth out of people."

A half grin.

It had occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, Madara realized with a frown, Yuushun was daring this on purpose. It would not be inconceivable. Aside from Izuna who ordered the investigation, Yuushun was the only one who knew about her full background. It would certainly explain why the genjutsu expert had gone out of his way to teach her to play cards, according to what she had claimed.

Madara's teeth clenched so hard that his jaw ached. It served him well to know that after all this time, he, who called himself her husband, was likely to be the one who had offered her the least amount of comfort.

"She had bled so much that they say it was a miracle she was saved. But there is still one other incident," Yuushun informed him.

"The summer that she was fifteen, my lady fell from a tall tree and snapped her arm. It was a particularly bad fall, from what I gathered. The princess was frantic in getting any healer she could find to see to her. All of them told her that it simply couldn't be done, and even if it were it would keep causing complications for the rest of her life. Best course of action would be an amputation, they say."

"And yet...not even a scar is left to mark the existence of that tragic incident," Yuushun noted. "If that doesn't speak of the work of an elite Sorairo medic, I know not what would."

He had seen her reach for her arm back there. That could be it.

"You know how the Sorairo work, Madara-sama," Yuushun carefully reminded. "They will only agree to do such things for a price."

The price that Sorairo Ikezoe charges, Madara was familiar with. It was the reason why the Sorairo clan hadn't much difficulty in overcoming enemies despite being a clan of medics.

"It would appear that the Sorairo have outlived their usefulness," was Madara's cold statement. He would not allow them the possible advantage of making the first move. "Inform the others. We will put the plan to motion as soon as Izuna returns."

"Should I direct reinforcements to Izuna-sama?" Yuushun inquired.

"No need." Izuna had always been able to hold his own. "For now we watch," Madara commanded darkly. "Double the men on the Sorairo's watch. Find out_ exactly_ who they have been consorting with to become brash enough to entertain these endeavors."

A curt bow. "Yes, Madara-sama."

"And if I may be so bold, Madara-sama," Yuushun turned back to add. "Now's the time you should be listening to your woman instead of brooding on your own."

Now one of his top advisors was giving him advice in love? Just what the hell was happening to this place!

The leader of the Uchiha clan scowled murderously before composing himself.

_"You._ Stop there."

Uchiha Agetha exchanged a knowing glance with her girls.

"You called, Madara-sama?" she asked in a drawl.

An indulgent and attentive husband he was, but was no less their fear-inspiring leader when he folded his arms and faced them full.

The last time Uchiha Madara had looked her squarely with his intense, blood-red eyes, she had wound up with two dislocated joints, two broken ribs, and fractured bone all along one leg. The thing was, that had been when she had challenged him to a duel with her former position in the Uchiha army at stake.

He hadn't even mad at that time.

Voice taut. "Explain yourself," the tall, black-clad shinobi commanded, arching a long, arrogant eyebrow. _"Why _have you gone against my orders to remain silent on that matter?"

"Is the end result not the same as the one you had wanted, Madara-sama?" the kunoichi asked. "You wanted to bruise her ego a bit, wanted her to realize that she needs you. For that you were planning to spurn her when she warms up to you as a way of punishment. To a self-sufficient female like her, the damage to her pride is greater than any wound."

But he hadn't followed through with his original plan. He couldn't do it. He didn't think he could forgive himself if he made her cry.

Coldly, and with deadly calm, Madara arched one expressive eyebrow and told her, "You'll have to do better than that."

Well well, she was not a kunoichi of the Uchiha clan if she could feel fear at the simple threat of pain or death.

"Is that an empty threat, Madara-sama? Or have you finally decided to weed out all opposition?"

All at once he was before her, the tips of his fingers digging into her throat.

"Just because I've never lifted a finger against any of you," Madara seethed out in cold fury, "doesn't mean I won't start. I will **_not," _**he emphasized, "tolerate this kind of treatment towards my wife!"

Livid, his powerful and dangerous eyes were. Ominous red, and breathtakingly beautiful. He was the embodiment of a chaotic storm; a harbinger of war, of destruction. And was every bit the dark, handsome stranger the young girls conjured up in their sleep, dreaming of the seduction of death.

It was hard to believe this was the same boy she had turned down all those years ago. He most likely didn't even remember his confession, now.

"Whatever disrespect I have shown," Agetha replied, a smidge stiffer than she would've liked, "I will answer for in due time." The pure malice was rolling off him in waves. As much as she'd like to test his word, she had no true desire to spark off a fight without gain. "Should you not be telling this to your wife, instead?" she somehow still managed to drawl despite the tight grip at her throat.

...

Slowly, very slowly, Uchiha Madara released her from his grasp. He, too, came to the conclusion that he had more important matters to attend to.

"I want you gone from this complex within the hour," Madara snapped his curt command, arms folding impassively and his sharingan blaring. "Now out of my sight!"

The kunoichi bowed smartly and retreated to where her girls were waiting with their baskets, awaiting her actions. Luckily, that had gone rather smoothly for them, and Agetha kept back a smirk. She picked up the basket full of clothing she had put down when he had called upon her.

Madara did a double take.

"What is all this?" he snapped.

* * *

...

She should have known better than to anger the women.

Loreli rubbed her temples, sighing at the sight of her near-empty room.

Women didn't ball their fists and flash their swords, she had learned from experience. They put on a pleasant smile and made their kill another way.

With a grim expression, she picked up the poor excuse for a dress that was left on her bed. Was it possible, then, she wondered, to die of embarrassment?

No, what she was really wondering is why Murata had not bothered to stop them. Had he tried, she would have heard_ something_ during her bath. Instead, he'd allowed them to make off with her entire inventory.

And just what was this—this_ thing? _Surely this scrap of fabric couldn't be even be called a—a-.._._she didn't even want to think about it.

With an exasperated sigh, she tossed it back on the bed.

But no matter how many times she swung her closet doors open, her clothing weren't going to magically reappear.

Loreli paced a circle around her room.

Alright, so she had the option of appearing naked to the next person who saw her, or wearing that-that-...

—They must be laughing and making bets on what her decisions would be.

She let out a slow breath.

The scrap of fabric taunted her from its resting place on her bed, its dark magenta colour was bold enough to be found offensive.

Dangling it up between two fingers, Loreli fought back a grimace as she reluctantly padded her way to the mirror on her bathroom wall.

Simply holding it up in front of her did not give her a clear enough picture. To be honest, as if to reject even the consideration of putting that thing on, her mind was drawing up a blank as she stared back at her reflection.

...

Someone. will have to answer for this.

Inhale.

Very well then. She'll give them one final, good show.

With one breath Loreli slipped the skin-tight attire up her legs, yanking the thread-bare material up her torso. The straps snapped into place as she wrestled them over her bare shoulders.

She was out of breath by the time she had laced up the zipper on the back of the dress.

...What...was this?

Try as she might to grasp onto the fabric so that she could adjust it, it was no use. The thing clung to her like a second skin, emphasizing every little curve there was on her body, even the less desirable ones And it was tight. Uncomfortable.

Loreli risked a glance at her reflection and was immediately stupefied by her appearance.

The blatant, rosy-red colour of the dress did absolutely _terrible _things to her visage. It highlighted the fair complexion of her skin, the blazing red of her lips, and the blush that currently flushed her cheeks. She felt...suffocated. The only parts of her body that seemed able to breathe were her shoulders, bare save the strands of her shoulder-length hair draping over them, and her bare legs, made to seem longer underneath the dress.

Oh dear gods. Not only was the top revealing too much, the skirt... She tugged indignantly at the bottom of the dress, but the fabric smoothed back to place as soon as she let go.

This—this was indecent!

...It was only when she heard the knocking at her door did she finally lift her burning face from her hands at the bathroom sink.

Loreli sucked in a steadying breath, tossing one final glance at the determined eyes of her reflection. At the very least, the material of her dress wasn't see-through. Not that the dress left much to imagination.

Ughnnn.

The show was on.

Flicking her hair to the back, Loreli strode confidently to the door.

"If you wouldn't mind," the young woman started haughtily as she swung her door open, with a speech already prepared in her head.

Madara.

_Her immediate reaction:_ slamming the door in his face.

_His immediate reaction:_ preventing her from doing so.

Her heart skidding in an alarming fashion, Loreli realized that he must have stuck his arm out the instant she had tried to shut him out, his intent eyes now roving over her body with a mixture of awe and stunned disbelief. If Uchiha Madara knew how to gawk, that would be it.

She'd panicked, alright. Logically, she should have expected this. But she still hadn't been prepared to see _him_ on the other side of her door.

Right. Relax. Breathe.

Loreli moved her lips but choked on air. His silent and fiery scrutiny razed whatever thoughts were left crumbling within her.

"W-why?" For whatever reason, only that word tumbled out of her mouth.

He looked up at her then, the expression on his sharp, handsome features causing her breath to hitch.

"Why I am here?" Madara asked matter-of-factly, quirking a long, thin eyebrow. "Why I have dared to show myself? Or why..." his heavy-lidded gaze raked over her form again, the predatory hunger barely concealed within "haven't I shoved you against the nearest surface and had my way with you yet?" he asked huskily, a sound which sent shivers up her spine.

...Loreli crossed her arms before her, mistakenly thinking that it would lessen her vulnerability. It only drew his eyes back to her bosom.

...

This was the worst.

Her face was becoming so heated that it must be on the brink of forming blisters. Kami-sama, he did something, didn't he? She couldn't remember the last time she felt so entirely self-conscious and...and—

She positively jolted when he shifted forward, reminding her of their difference in height.

"Madara-" the name slipped out unthinkingly.

She heard him suck in a breath.

"I find this trait of yours to avenge yourself endearing," Madara remarked, arching his long, arrogant eyebrows. "If your intention was to torment me," he said softly, silkily, "then you've accomplished what you were after."

"That..." Loreli lost the rest of her thought. She was disoriented. She shouldn't be panicking. She had made her decision.

She had a plan.

She had a _plan._

What was it again?

A light stammering dotted her words. "What do you mean, Madara-sama?"

She gasped when he gripped her gently by the chin.

His visible eye bore down at her. "You are still mad over what I did?"

...

Her long, curled lashes drooped over her eyes. She wet her lips.

"That...hardly seems important anymore," Loreli noted with a small, wry smile. And it was the truth. He couldn't accuse her of lying on that.

"Then why have you pushed me away?" Madara demanded in his commanding tone, with a frown slanting up the corners of his eyes. "Don't you think you can run from me."

She averted her eyes. "And what if I had?" she asked, feeling herself work up a sweat despite sounding calm. "...I've had to endure the realization that I am not without replacement."

"Madara-sama," she said, cutting off his stiff and indignant response. Guiding the hand on her chin to rest on her collarbone, she said coyly up at him, _"_It's not torment_..._" her heart pounding hard "_if I permit you to touch me."_

That robbed the protests right out of his mouth.

She looked expectantly up at him, waiting for his response.

For a long, suspenseful moment he remained motionless, thinking.

He moved.

Loreli backed up a bit to allow him space to enter. The tall, long ebony haired shinobi shut the door behind him, sliding the bolt into place; his eyes never leaving her.

Intense. Devouring.

With a quick snap, he undid the buttons on his collar, making the only sound there was in the suddenly sweltering room. He watched her in silence, seemingly waiting for something.

Instinctively she knew what it was that he wanted. She reached out, laying her palms flat against his sculpted abs. Another wave of heat painted her cheeks. That was just a bit...embarrassing...she wasn't even the one being touched.

But if he thought anything of her reaction, Madara made no comment. He remained perfectly still as she slipped her hands underneath his shirt, lifting it to expose his entire hard-toned torso.

Loreli fought not to stare, focusing instead on how she was to get the shirt over his head. But wait...something wasn't quite right here... Her eyes widened in realization.

He had adopted same passive observation the first time they had been alone together. When he had been gauging the validity of of her love confessions.

Loreli stepped back, pursing her lips. "If you don't want to," she began, and was cut off abruptly when she was swept into his embrace.

_"Wrong, _my lady," he said gruffly, seductively, while their faces were nearly brushing. "I want to take you right now, against the floor; up the wall; on your knees; whichever position I desire you in, as a reminder to whom you belong to."

She drew in a shuddering breath, astounded at how a statement so vulgar could have such an effect on her. But if she had any doubt about the truth of his words, the erection she was pressed against through her thin dress was proof enough.

"So why don't you?" she asked, blinking up at him with her pretty eyes.

She felt his growl rumbling, vibrating against her chest.

Immediately his mouth sought out hers, kissing her fervently, caressing every inch of her mouth as she reached up tentatively to lay her hands on his shoulders. But Madara didn't need any encouragement. His expert hands ran over her sensual form, drawing up her skirt, touching her in all the places that he had already memorized to have made her first giggle, squirm, and then gasp. She gave him a small hum of approval.

It nearly drove him into a frenzy. Madara hissed in a breath, feeling her hands underneath his shirt, running over his skin. He broke apart from her lips, but it was only to throw her onto her back as he stood over her bed, lifting and tossing aside his shirt.

It was a curious thing. There he stood, majestic and half-naked, with his visible and desire-laden eye undressing her with his gaze, much like the first time he had taken her against her will. And yet her current exposed and vulnerable state not only failed to cause her distress, it...pleased her to know that he lusted for her, lusted for her so much that the knowledge fed to her ache.

Since when...had she already learned to accept the man who he was?

"You're thinking," Uchiha Madara observed. His long, ebony spikes trailed over her teasingly as he climbed over her, caging her beneath him. He said told her smoothly, arrogantly, "It's too late to change your mind."

He could say that, but... Loreli gently reached up, brushing strands of his long black hair from his eyes. He watched her.

...It seemed that...a greater part of her already believed that he would not intentionally cause her pain.

Light smile. "Touch me, then," she said. "I will forgive you if you can make me feel good."

A smirk curled up the corner of his dark lips, confident that he could exceed her expectations.

His mouth lowered to her brow, telling her lustfully, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say that."

She closed her eyes, allowing him to grasp her, to stroke her, to tease her and to kiss her in places that made her gasp.

Yet something...there was still something that felt odd about the way nearly reverent way he touched her.

Loreli opened her eyes to see him with one hand laced through her hair, a concentrated look on his keen and attractive face.

Eyes widening, she realized with a jolt that he was looking at the white lines hidden underneath the cover of her hair.

"Tsch." In a flash, Loreli rolled off the side of her bed and was up.

"What else do you know?" she asked tersely. And here she thought that she could seduce him. He had only played along—so that he could confirm her scars with his own eyes, no doubt. How did he find out?

Her eyes landed at the bundle of clothing lying at the end of her bed. He brought her clothes, she realized. That meant he already knew what happened with the other women, and how she ended up dressed thus. She felt like such a fool.

"That you meant to deceive me up till the moment you tell Izuna your decision to leave," Madara answered her curtly. She looked to see him still reclined on the bed, his head propped up on one hand as his dark, magnetic eyes pierced her. She looked away before he added, "That you no longer believe I can protect you."

She breathed in nervously, but composed herself before she turned back and said to him cruelly, "If you knew that, then you should have kept up your pretense and enjoyed the few days we have left."

No sooner than she had witnessed his dark eyes narrowing did she find herself roughly pulled up by the arms. His mouth was crushed against hers, she realized when her mind caught up. Harshly, and punishingly, stifling her gasps. She tried, but he had her locked in his grasp, and she could do nothing but to respond to his kiss instinctively. Ah, it was powerful, indescribable; completely and utterly different from before, now that the wall of pretense had broken down between them. She was falling and floating all at the same time.

"I don't want a few nights of passion!" Madara shook her aggrievedly by the shoulders when he pulled back. "I want _you. _To be my wife. For _life."_

Loreli felt her jaw slacken and her lips part, but no sound came forth.

She shouldn't have. But...just a little bit...did she feel a little happy at his words?

"You need someone," Madara went on, sounding a tad winded. He was desperate, now. Desperate to hold onto the woman he cherished. Desperate because this time, the situation seemed entirely out of his hands.

"Someone who can back up that haughty and self-righteous attitude of yours. Someone who will pamper you all you want."

He dipped his head the rest of the way, his forehead resting on top of hers, now.

"Can't I be the one?" the tall and powerful shinobi leader lightly demanded, strong eyes looking right into hers. "No," Uchiha Madara corrected with more conviction, _"Let me be the one."_

...

She waited a few breaths. She needed that time.

"Need...you, Madara-sama?" she asked.

Though her voice was too quiet for him to pick up on her tone, Madara knew from experience that it was never a good thing when she used formalities in addressing him.

"I. don't need you."

"I don't need you," she repeated a second time, as if he hadn't heard her the first.

She tore herself away from him, darting for the bundle of clothing on her bed. She fled inside her bathroom before he had fully registered what had just happened, slamming the door behind her.

That was it?

He had been rejected.

And angrily rejected at that, Madara thought with a perplexed frown. He was certain she had been trembling out of anger.

What in the—_?_

But she hadn't even been inside the bathroom for more than a few seconds when she slammed the door open again.

Expression blank, the delicate woman approached him, lightly crossing her arms.

"Those blades you keep on you," she said, referring to the number of kunai and shurriken he kept hidden beneath his clothes at all times. "You still have one right now?"

Madara stared at her. "My proposal offends you enough to take a stab at me?" he asked, incredulous.

"Ye—No. No," she replied. A forced smile, and one that failed miserably. "You need only to lend me one for a moment."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What for?"

She was visibly uneasy. "...Something that came up unexpectedly." That was all she would say.

His long eyebrows arched up slowly. "There is something inside your bathroom that needs to be killed?" Madara asked in an arrogant drawl.

...

"Madara," she said.

He, however, was in no hurry to indulge her. Making his way to her bed again, Madara lied down, giving her a clean view of his lithe, topless figure. He arched his arrogant eyebrows at her, letting her know that he wasn't about to give her what she asked for without a damn good explanation.

"...You're petty."

"Can't hear you."

She breathed out a sigh. With what appeared to be a tremendous amount of effort, she came before him. She wet her lips, weighing what seemed to be a monumental decision. Finally, she whirled around to present her back to him.

Lengths of semi-long, black hair had caught up in the zipper at the back of her dress, preventing it from functioning. It appeared that she had attempted to yank them out, but to no avail.

He didn't know whether to construe this ridiculous situation as something to be amused and thankful for, or something to be utterly incredulous at.

"Madara," she said again, this time with a shred of desperation seeping through.

_"Ah."_ Casually propping his arm up against the headboard, Madara leaned his head into the palm of his hand as he appraised her. He asked in a taunting manner, "You said something about not needing my assistance?"

She pursed her lips, hesitating only a moment before moving. "If you won't, then-"

"I've already dismissed your guard from his post outside," Madara informed her. He arched a long, mocking eyebrow up at her when she looked at him in surprise. "Can't have him seeing my wife in this kind of state, now can I?"

"You-" She was at a loss for words. "I-"

"Ohh." She sat down cross-armed on the edge of the bed, unhappy.

Had he not been preoccupied with disheartening thoughts, Madara would have found her reaction endearing.

"Tell me why what I have said upset you," he said as an order.

She ignored him.

Madara's jaw tightened at the lack of response, but he pressed onto another question.

"Exactly what is the nature of the hold the current Sorairo leader has on you?" he asked solemnly. He needed to know that. If only she would trust him, he'd be able to break that hold on her.

...She did not respond.

"I will eventually find out anyway," Madara told her as a warning.

...Still, the silence.

Keeping his anger in check, Madara rolled his tongue inside his cheek. "You want to leave that badly?" he then asked. Tauntingly. "So be it. Make it to the gates of the stronghold dressed as you are," he told her cruelly. "I will acknowledge your determination."

Her gaze flickered to him. A spark of indignant anger, but it was quickly soothed out by her usual, careful demeanor.

"...You said it yourself, Madara-sama."

She rose up, heading straight for her door without a backwards glance.

Briskly, she slid the bolt to the 'unlock' position. She swung the door open the same time he slammed it shut.

...Loreli glanced down at her wrist. That impact actually hurt her a bit.

"...I suppose that getting around a top ranked ninja on my way out is a criterion you failed to mention?" she coolly asked.

His breath hot on her nape. "Don't test me," he warned her darkly.

Tonelessly. "You go back on your word," she said. "Have you no honour?"

"Honour?" A dark, velvety chuckle. She drew in a sharp intake of breath as his hand slid up her leg.

All she heard was a ripping sound. Gasping in surprise, she caught the front of her dress as it was about to slip off.

He grabbed one of her arms, whirling her around to face him as she desperately clung to the only line of defense against him.

"I am _sick_ of listening to your selfishness," Madara snarled scathing at her, fury written over his sharp, handsome features.

"Have I been too accommodating towards you?" he questioned rhetorically, advancing on her and causing her to back up in return. "The more I give, the more you are eager to get away."

"Exactly what have you found lacking in me that I cannot change!" Madara demanded, voice rising to a boil. "It is always one excuse or another, and now the secrets so terrible you cannot entrust me with." She backed into the side of the bed. The next thing she knew, she was flat on her back, her arms pinned above her head.

"Damn it!" Madara snapped with all the rage he had in him. _"At least tell me why!"_

She didn't speak. She remained frozen. Fearful that her lips would tremble if she parted them.

_...Madara._

His Sharingan stared down at her, who was pinned beneath his heavy and hard muscled form.

"What do I care about honour?" Uchiha Madara asked her, quietly now, but only because he had blanketed over his anger. _"When you are assuredly mine."_

...Her eyes widened.

"...You don't mean that..." she said in a near whisper. Yet her heart beat louder. Whether it was from fear or something else, she could not figure.

To mean what he said would mean that he would not let her go, regardless of his brother's say in the matter. Madara...no, Madara was not that type of man.

She stared up at his sharp and heavy-lidded eyes, with the corners slanting exotically up. At his straight and chiseled nose, his long, slashing eyebrows. At his sinfully alluring lips, at his long majestic mane. At his strong, regal neck, at his angular chin.

"I'm...sorry, Madara."

Her eyes drooped.

They shouldn't have. But her eyes misted over for a reason she did not understand.

It was his turn for his eyes to widen, at the sight of her tears.

Quietly, very quietly. "Some things I intend to take to my grave," Loreli said softly.

She looked gently back up at him. He had already released her arms, for she could reach up to touch him lightly on the side of his face.

It shouldn't have. But her chest hurt.

And she knew. Knew that she had hurt him, this arrogant and powerful ninja who was supposed to have no such handicap. Knew that he was hurting more than her.

"...You know as well as I do that this should not be allowed to drag on any longer," she finally said.

He looked back down at her, his sharp, calculating gaze unreadable. She wondered momentarily at what he might be thinking, but decided that it was better she not know.

There was one case and only one case where Uchiha Madara was potentially more dangerous than when he was freely expressing his anger. And that was when he was silent and stoically appraising his adversary like this.

She flinched, but the reason for his movement was only to roll off of her, rising curtly from her bed.

Tightly. "You're right."

He was up, bending to snatch up his high-collared shirt which lay discarded on the floor. He slipped it on. "It is pointless to drag this out further."

It shouldn't have. But hearing him say it...felt different than saying it herself.

Sitting up slowly, Loreli drew the cut material of her dress over her front again as if it could provide her comfort.

"Meet me outside at the place where Mishura once gave you a hard time, in one hour," Madara told her, buttoning up his shirt before he turned sideways to her.

"I will make one final stand."

She wanted to say something, she believed. Something along the lines of it not being necessary.

But the moment she met his unwavering, incarnadine eyes, any kind of thought disintegrated.

"And I want to hear your final answer," Madara stated, sinister and imposing like the arrogant shinobi leader he was.

"An answer you will stick by this time."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Lol, I think they've just covered the entire spectrum of emotions this chapter. What a strangely annoying but amusing couple. Okay, I probably shouldn't be poking fun at my own characters. **  
**

And now, I've a good question! How many of you actually want me to reply to your reviews? Either through PM or this spaces at the start/end of each chapter. Lately I've been getting PMs in asking me questions and stuff, not that I mind at all, but it makes me wonder if it is due to the lack of replies I've been giving out x.X—sorry!

I mean I do read all your reviews, it's just...I am rather shy so sometimes when I review a story that does not need an answer, I prefer not to receive a reply. And I also used to find it just a bit misleading for word count and all when there are pages of response on some of the other fanfic authors' works—not to mention the scrolling.

So if you do want me to reply to you, please do let me know. Maybe I'll make a list of names. LOL. Okay, but really...if you ever want to talk to me, send me a PM. Do I sound that intimidating? I guess I'm not. Meewee~


	29. Her Pygmalion IV

**A/N:** Er...yes the beginning part holds significance. The chances are you'd end up pretty confused at a later point if you do skim right past it. Not that I'm foreshadowing anything, nope.

**creampuff:** lol, okay, duly noted. But know that my story only rewards the patient ^^

**kmz:** Well, it is briefly shown in one scene of this fic that Madara already possesses the Mangekyou, he just doesn't go crazy-eyed all over the place. And about my way of naming my characters, you are right, and you are not the first person to bring that up. I could use a japanese name or katakana dictionary to create my names, and I've done that for a few of the minor characters, but I fear that they will end up with a weird meaning I have not intended for them to, lol. For the characters I consider important, I typically just aim for the sound and the look of it on screen: Since in writing, unlike in drawing, a name is all there is to represent the characters when there are no other description available. I also deliberate create original names for them because I would hate for there to be any connotations attached by the readers' mind before I begin developing their characters. As for your last and most important question...let's just say that I intend to do this at my own pace. And there is a reason why it is slow right now...very good reason :)

**Nisroc:** xD Enjoying your summer vacation? Lol, and suddenly everyone starts mentioning a tragic ending...

**Reclun:** Haha, I believe a lot of other readers are having trouble reading Loreli, now. I think the only way to understand her is to keep putting off judgment until she decides to reveal her own thoughts ;)

* * *

**Till You Die**

27 - _Her Pygmalion IV_

_

* * *

_

A dry, dead leaf smacked into her forehead.

Strange how that activated a memory of another time, another place.

Gone was the barren landscape of the Uchiha stronghold, replaced by the vibrant vegetation of the castle's painstakingly cultivated gardens.

The sky glowed overhead as she ascended the low grassy hill to the charming pavilion seated at the top.

_"Loreli..." _His voice dissolved as the dead leaf floated onto her open palm. The breeze tore it in half before the parts fluttered away.

The gods must like toying with her.

Inhaling slowly, Loreli drew her arms around herself and pressed onwards.

It had been...something like this. A fine early evening under a vast expanse of sky. Occasional breeze that would sweep the leaves off branches on either side.

And a young man waiting for her to make up her mind.

_"I am relieved my message has reached you."_

She must be bewitched. How is it that she could hear his words so vividly in her mind?

_"Speak your mind," _she had answered, _'"I haven't much time."_

_"Truly?" _Oda Katamori had asked good-naturedly. _"Last I heard, the princess was refusing to entertain even you."_

That much had been true. Yuzuzu-hime had always shut herself inside her bedchambers, refusing to admit anyone aside from her closest servant after each of the feudal lord's failed attempt to introduce a suitor to his daughter. Any other princess may not have been already married off at her age, but lord Yukino was among the top-most powerful and influential lords in the Fire Country. Yuzuzu-hime was his only heir, and even if she were to marry the chances are that she would outrank her husband, and would remain on her own lands as its ruler.

_"Would you rather I have said I simply didn't want to meet you?" _she had tonelessly replied.

_"Ouch." _Katamori had made a sort of grimace.

_"What is this?" _she had asked, looking down at the cold, thin piece of metal he placed into the palm of her hand. A hair stick? But this-...

She could have recognized this one anywhere.

_"I thought it may be a good time to return this to you, with today being your birthday."_

Those words nearly hadn't registered. But she had heard them, heard them and had looked at him in speechless wonderment.

How had this hair stick ended up in his hands? She had puzzled long over this. How had he known the date of her birth, when not even the princess knew of it?

_"That woman..." _she had said quietly, so quietly, her fingers closing around the cool silver of the sapphire-encrusted hair ornament with tiny dangling pearls. _"...I've wanted something of hers."_

She had been too naive...to understand the permanence of death. And those who were jealous of the woman couldn't get rid of the remaining traces of her fast enough.

The tip of the hair ornament was sharp, the edges biting. She had thought she remembered seeing her mother use it once in an act of defense. The memories were blurry.

_"She gave it to him, my father," _Katamori had quietly explained. _"He...meant to return it to you when you have come of age..."_

A pregnant silence.

_"He informed me in the event that he is unable to, I will be the one to pass on your mother's words to you."_

_..._

_"Live well, my daughter. Live proud, and fearlessly."_

...She had scoffed through a silent sob.

She didn't think her definition of pride and fearlessness was the same as her mother's. No...she couldn't be as brave as that woman had been.

_"Out of all people she could choose from, she fell in love with a soldier," _she had murmured aloud.

Not that she had the right to say anything. Oda Toshioma had been a better man—and more of a father to her than her own had ever been.

_"I'm uncertain if it was indeed as you say," _Katamori had commented.

_"Perhaps not," _Loreli had acceded. _"If it hadn't been so...I suppose it wouldn't have been...that tragic." _Her voice had trailed off into a faint whisper.

Her kind, lovely mother who only saw Toshioma whenever she was being escorted to the feudal lord's chambers.

_"I can never understand," _Loreli had murmured.

_"Marry me."_

_"I should probably g..."_

She had looked up at him with widened eyes.

Gently; naturally; his gaze warn and half-lidded as he rested cross-armed against the pavilion's frame, Katamori had repeated the two words, _"Marry me." _

Her mouth had parted. And pursed. Parted. Pursed. She could have only stared.

...A gentle, yet persistent burning. A moth that yearned for the call of the flame. The emotions he had kindled in her, she had heartlessly stomped out.

_"Don't be ridiculous."_

Again, that sheepish grimace. _"I fear I am getting used to hearing your cold rejections," _the young man had noted with humour. _"That is probably not such a good thing."_

_"Yuzuzu-hime needs me." _

_"Her future husband will take over your duties."_

_"That would only be if she wants it so."_

_"What do you want...Loreli?"_

What did she want?

She had felt the cool weight in her hand.

...She...wanted go to back to that time. To that place with no one around them. Ignorant and disconnected from the outside.

A simple life. With simple joys.

He was the same.

_"What I want is irrelevant."_

_"I will be here," _he had told her, _"regardless of whom you choose. I will wait until the day you are comfortable with leaving her side."_

_"Fool." _She had paused in leaving. _"Even if you will wait forever, I will never be yours..."_

_"No," Oda _Katamori had conceded. _"But _I _will be yours."_

_..._

_"Why?" _Loreli had asked, her lips barely moving. Up till this day she did not fully understand his answer.

It had been without the faintest trace of pride or possessiveness with which Katamori had replied:

_"Because you...need me."_

_..._

Of all the men she had encountered this lifetime, he was the most beautiful. His soul was noble, his kindness undying.

He gave her peace of mind. He made her feel safe.

Her white knight.

Sucking in another breath, Loreli yielded to the ground, feeling the strength in her legs fail her.

_I need you._

In a world where strength meant everything.

_I need you._

It was so unfair.

Flapping of wings. Mishura, Madara's sly and deadly falcon, landed on a dead branch nearby.

...What's this? Did he perhaps think that she would not come?

"...I am coming," Loreli said with a sigh, using effort to get back on her feet. Mishura sped off into the sky.

How...strange. She felt as though all the specters of her past weighed against her, slowing her movement. Regardless what her answer would be, she knew that whatever link she had to her past would have to be severed.

For she was under no delusion. Loreli gazed up at the dark, solitary figure waiting for her by the trunk of the old, dying tree on top of the small hill before her.

She could either support him with all her heart, or not remain by his side at all.

That was the only choice laid out before her.

She already knew her answer.

Uchiha Madara watched her with an impassive face as she approached him. She hadn't the tiniest clue to what he may have planned, but he didn't speak. Neither did she. It seemed that all that could be said had already been exhausted.

Loreli stopped an arm's length from the tall and deadly shinobi leader and gazed up at him without reserve. A moment later, the intensity of his breathtaking red eyes caused her to lower her gaze.

They stood in silence of the setting sun, a silence that spoke more words than should have been said.

Out of all the men she encountered this lifetime, he was the most captivating. He was fearless, cunning. He had the bearing of a dark majesty.

He forced her to confront her absolute potential. He made her blood boil.

Her dark king.

"...Seems like it's an appropriate time to ask you this," Loreli commented. If he wasn't going to be the one who initiated the end, then that task could only fall onto her.

The least she could do was to hear him. Seriously hear him.

"What do you...fight for?" she asked.

_What do _I..._fight for?_

When Izuna had suggested that she should ask Madara to answer for himself, she hadn't been interested. She hadn't thought it was relevant. But now she was asking him. Now she wanted him to tell.

His jaw set. He answered. "I fight for my people, for the sake of their future."

"The reason many leaders fight," Loreli commented. "Why should I choose you?"

His arms which were folded tensed visibly. "They have no vision," Madara accused, "no ambition. They are satisfied with only the cheap imitation of peace." His lips curled back scornfully. "While _knowing_ that it is just a method of buying time for one side to rebuild their strength."

"No. True peace comes at a much greater price," Madara stated with a dark frown, his countenance intimidating. "As long as warring factions exist, there will be bred hatred. And as long as there exists hatred, there will be war." Snidely. "The entire history of our lands is steeped too deep in blood."

"I am not satisfied with only crushing our enemies this lifetime," Madara stated coldly, maliciously. "I will break my clan out of this endless chain of vengeance. I will make it so that the Uchiha will never fall again!"

"When clans have to cooperate and their differences are oppressed by a greater power," Madara told her, turning his head to her now, gazing down at her with his keen, confident sidelong gaze. "The first conditions for peace will have been met. If they have no reason to cooperate," Madara stated authoritatively, "then I will force one!"

...

"...So," Loreli interrupted tonelessly. "The Fire Country is not enough, but you want..._the world?"_

If it is...that kind of peace he was searching for...it could not exist unless he had no opposition.

"...No one will thank you, Madara. And the longer your task will take, the more your subordinate clans will rebel."

"I am not doing this for thanks!" Madara bellowed, though his anger was not directed at her. His eyes darkened. "And the latter will not happen. The Sorairo was a special case. And a mistake I won't have repeated." His fists clenched. "Those who will oppose me will be crushed."

...She gazed upon his impressive visage and knew that he meant each word he said.

"...A reign of terror, Madara?" Loreli softly asked. "Will that justify the peace you bring?"

"Terror?" Long, mocking eyebrows arched up. "It is a fact in our world that only the strong survive and the fate of one's clan lay in the hands of the victors. It is nothing the shinobi clans do not expect. I am giving them a choice no one since the Senju clan of Forest had given them in the First Shinobi War, and more!" Madara declared. "When the shinobi clans unite under one rule, the lords of the lands will have no more hold on us ninja!"

...

"...So not just the world," Loreli said blankly, "but you want to overturn the very system that has governed our existence since The Great Sage brought it into being?"

She had known that Madara was a fearless, ambitious man. Nonetheless, this was all very...beyond her.

"We of the superior bloodlines have existed for as long as the common people existed," Madara's voice drew her back to the present. "_We_ have struggled, sacrificed, and have become stronger than the ignorant people whose peace are derived from the blood of us ninja."

"_We_ are the stronger race," Madara stated, fists and jaw clenching in cold fury. "Why should _we_ be treated as something less than human, as pawns of flesh and blood in the lords' petty _games!" _

She flinched at the truth in those words.

"No," Madara decided, his expression sinister. "If anyone is using fear and oppression, it is the feudal lords. From trivial family matters to pitting two clans against each other in a bet: The more we war, the more we hate, the better. It will ensure no one will ever succeed in rising up against them." A growl emanated from his throat. "They thought _wrong."_

"You want to be that man...the one who stands on top of the ninja world as its undisputed ruler," she said. "Can you make the right decisions?"

He asked, "Do you think I can't?"

She held his gaze as he looked at her with a confident and laid-back expression.

...It wasn't that...she didn't think he was an impressive leader. Moreover, he may be the only one who would guarantee that her princess would not come to harm. Even so...passion alone was insufficient to make one a great ruler.

"It sounds to me that you will not even consider making allies..." Loreli said. At least, not 'ally' in her definition of the word. Could it be that he had always counted on destroying the Sorairo clan?

As if having read her thoughts, a dark chuckle sounded from the tall man next to her.

"We are mercenaries," Madara replied with. "Our type of allegiance is the type that's over as soon as the job is done. The ninja we fight alongside with, the feudal lords we agree to defend; we may very well be hired against on the very next contract. Live, fight, die for the clan. Only for the clan. That is the one law engraved onto the hearts of every ninja."

A slight perplexed frown. Uchiha Madara reached out with one hand, caressing the back of her neck.

He eased away.

"I am offering to free them from their bounds!" Madara declared, whirling to gaze off at the distance. "Those who are too cowardly to make their own fates need only follow. True change does not occur by appeasing all sides and reaching mutual agreement," the long ebony-haired shinobi snarled. "An alliance will only serve to hold me back!"

"Alas, I am not the only one with the same ambition," Madara told her. "The Senju of the Forest in the east aspires toward the same goal. Through their careful selection of whose contracts to take, they have mastered the balance of power in their land. _Soon," _he said gravely, "their power will spread to here."

...

"And you..." Loreli said lightly "...will confront them."

He looked at her.

He didn't need to answer her. She knew. Two powers set on the same path of domination will eventually cross one another. The sooner the competition is taken care of, the better.

"...You offer me a life of survival and bloodshed," said Loreli. She asked coolly, "...What will you give me in return?"

He was silent, but the dark and foreboding aura surrounding the long ebony-haired shinobi appeared to be in turmoil.

This was it.

If he even dared to utter the mention of love, power, or a threat to her, then it was all over.

He should already know this was his final chance to convince her that he was worth the suffering and heartbreak.

"I won't lie to you," Madara said after a moment's contemplation. "It won't be easy staying by my side. It will be lengthy. It will be difficult. And I will not always be there to protect you," he informed her with some apparent effort. "At times you will feel lonely. At times you will regret."

Unable to keep still any longer, Madara paced a few steps to the side. He gritted out, "You will be targeted and discriminated against for no reason other than being my wife. You will need to survive by your own wiles when I am not there as your shield."

"But_** I-" **_he stressed, swinging himself around to face her; his long majestic mane bellowing. "_**I**_ will create a place in my future where _you _may freely grow!"

One hand outstretched towards her.

_"Believe in me!" _An earnest appeal—no, _an order._

...

...Loreli blew out a breath. She wanted to let out a small, ironic laugh, but she didn't. Instead, she crossed her arms before her defensively.

"...You are indeed the same man who had converted the clan of Uchiha into your command within the blink of an eye," she conceded in a bland, nonchalant voice.

She turned from him, feeling the need to distance herself at the moment.

To grow...freely, Madara? Meaning...without a cage and...without fear?

She braced her brow with one hand.

...

Ah...what will she do?

"That is...a good answer."

...

_"But if he does come up with a satisfactory answer within one week," _Izuna's voice rang in her head as reminder, _"you will resolve your grudge towards him?"_

She was shaking her head unconsciously. Now, more than ever, a torrent of doubt assaulted her.

_Was she truly capable?_

_Was she to run like a coward?_

_Could she trust in him?_

_Could he accept her?_

_Would she go back on her word?_

_Would he have followed through with his?_

_Will she have to choose between him and her princess?_

_Will she come to regret?_

_Could she support him?_

_Will she be forgiven?_

All this...and more.

Thankfully, Madara was able to recognize that she needed to work it out on her own without interference.

She didn't know...and that frightened her more than if she had known the exact hardships she'd be facing.

"I..." she began, and stopped, her nails biting into her arms.

It was hard for her to say this. It brought her down to a level she was ashamed of being at. Even so...

"...If I say that I want to be offered the same choice again in five month's time," Loreli asked coolly, "how would you reply?"

Madara looked at her with masked surprise. One, because she was seriously considering it. Yet, knowing her, he knew the battle was far from over. And two, that she had chosen an unusual number.

"Why five months?" Madara pressed, long eyebrows arching up. "Why not l—"

_"No," _she said in a low, firm voice; her eyes looking towards the ground. _"No more than that."_

Her resolution and the heavy silence which followed it confused him. He frowned, but restrained himself from pressing further into it. _  
_

"...And during that time," Loreli continued, "do not attempt to find out what my decision will be."

It was absurd to think that he would agree to that. The leader of the Uchiha clan whirled away, pacing a few steps as he absorbed it in. He had already made it abundantly clear that he wanted something of permanence with her, and yet here she was elongating her decision further. Her lack of faith in him infuriated him, but at the same time...

"Those are my conditions," her soft, uncertain voice reached him. "...I will stay and support you."

This was as good as he was going to get, perhaps even more than he had dared hope for. He wasn't fool enough to not be able to tell that she was struggling to compromise.

He turned back to her, coming over to where she stood. Gently lifting her chin up, Uchiha Madara asked her, "If I agree to your terms, then will you forget everything? Everything I've done wrong up till now. Start anew."

...Loreli looked up into his intent gaze before lowering her eyes again.

"...I can."

Neither of them spoke for a long, reflective moment. Madara responded first.

"Wh-" Loreli choked off a bewildered exclamation as Madara smirked and lifted her into his arms, spinning her around him.

"...My willingness," Loreli said blandly, indignant; effectively dispersing the mood, "is not a part of this agreement."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

If you are ever having trouble reading Loreli's motives, do not panic. Her unreadability is actually the most prominent trait in her character. In which case you'd just have to follow her pace if you want to know what she is truly planning. I will never give away more than what she is willing to share :)

Just a head's up that there will be a few lighter and filler-like(but originally planned) chapters coming up...I am finally free to develop their romance haha...and it's time I make up to you guys...


	30. Hopeless Mine I

**A/N:** :x I've been busy looking for a place to rent these days. This chapter's actually supposed to be twice as long, but since it's taking me so long working things out for the other part, I've decided to cut it in half.

**Q:** What's going to happen in five months?

**A: **...New years?

**All other questions:** I think you already know the answers yourselves xD

**rose de sable: **I am happy to hear that :) Haha, you are right...I wish Kishi had made the fight last longer, at the very least. Do not worry, je te comprends. Ton anglais est mieux que mon francais.

**AleahD.: **You know, about your last suggestion...lol I kinda wish for that, too. It'd be nice to see it done properly...

Thanks for your continued readership! :)

* * *

**Till You Die**

28 - _Hopeless Mine I_

* * *

She was in the kitchen the early next morning when he went to look for her, him having just spent the night going over minute details of the plan with his council. The women next to her notified her of his presence.

The young woman rose to her feet, her dark brown eyes seeking him out by the doorway. Their eyes met and she parted her lips to speak, but her expression changed. Madara watched, incredulous, as she made a beeline for the latrine.

A frown darkening his brow, Madara folded his arms, rolling his tongue inside one cheek as sound of her retching reached his ears. Reacted that way as soon as she laid eyes on him, had she. He snapped, having to wonder if she was doing it just to spite him, "What's the matter with her!"

Glances were being exchanged between the women. Hesitation. Someone began, "Un, that is..."

"A mere chill I seem to have caught," Loreli's clear and refined voice cut in. "Nothing to make a deal out of," she said, approaching him. Her even gaze met up at his. "Madara-sama," she coolly claimed, although it felt like to him that she was addressing the rest of the women instead, "...there isn't anything I wouldn't inform you myself in due time."

He should hope that was true, Madara thought grimly to himself. She seemed to be keeping a hoard of secrets to herself at any given time. He could often trace the direction of her thoughts, but could not predict her reactions. The day she would freely confide in him would be the day he could confirm his existence in her heart.

"You were looking for me, Madara-sama?" Loreli asked him.

A smirk, reminded of why he was here.

"What are you-...? Wait-!"

* * *

...

The ground was swirling in circles. Fine. Just fine.

He had better had a good reason for abducting her from the kitchen and subjecting her to this torture.

"Here," she heard him announce, finally putting her down.

Loreli blinked a few times, trying to get her vision to settle.

Were they still...the Fire Country?

She look a good look around. There were...bamboo trees. A bamboo forest. Were they at one of the borderlands?

Madara grabbed her hand, and without further ado pulled her after him.

"Wait-..." she protested.

"Wait-" He didn't seem to slow down. Had he no idea that his strides were way longer than hers?

"Wait!"

–_SNAP._

The man finally looked back at the sound. Loreli balanced on one foot, her the ties of her sandal having snapped apart after getting caught on a stray branch. She wasn't too pleased by it either.

"Did you happen to not hear me?" Loreli asked with a stiff undertone.

Madara cursed inwardly, coming back to her side. Both of her eyes widened as he got down to one knee, arching his long, arrogant eyebrows up at her expectantly.

...Hum...? Oh...He meant that she could use him as a seat instead of sitting down on the damp forest surfaces to retie her sandal.

Out of spite, Loreli drew out her handkerchief from her pocket and, to the long ebony-haired shinobi's growing ire, proceeded to make a show of laying it down on his risen leg before she would seat herself down on it.

She yelped as he seized her by the arm, yanking her roughly into his lap, his hands catching her and holding her still. Her startled gaze met up with Madara's pointed, warning glare, and the words caught in her throat.

She could only sit still and watch as he reached down to tie the broken straps of her sandals back together.

...Strange man. He had such a side to him.

The forest was quiet, serene. It gave the wistful illusion that these were the two only people existing in the world. Despite herself, she felt some of her worries relinquish their claim on her.

"...Why are we here?" Loreli asked as he helped her up to a stand.

Madara replied simply, "You'll find out."

He took her hand again, setting a slower pace this time.

The fact that he felt it necessary to hold her hand was suspicious enough, but soon she was distracted by the layer of mist that rose from the ground as they moved further in.

She had never seen anything like it. The forest was...beautiful.

"This is where we are taught to perfect chakra control," he informed her.

A crystal clear lake came into view. The mist seemed to keep to the bamboo trees, forming a screen and shrouding the lake from the outside. Amazing, that a place like this existed.

_Splash._

Her attention was drawn a far corner of the lake, where the figures of a few young ninja in training appeared to be flailing in water.

She turned to him quickly. "You're not thinking of-..."

Uchiha Madara arched a long, thin eyebrow down at her before sounding out a chuckle, much to her relief.

"I thought you might want a break from curious eyes," Madara proclaimed. "You won't get to leave the stronghold much." He then stated as a command, "Not unless you are with me."

"...Isn't that just an excuse to spend time alone with me, Madara-sama?" She asked evenly, effectively freezing him up. "...Do you think your wife cannot withstand a few wayward glances?"

"And if I say I assumed you'd want to take a look?" Madara asked with a frown.

"...Madara-sama," Loreli said dryly. "It is early." She wrapped her arms around herself in emphasis. "It is col-"

She didn't even get to complete her sentence when he draped a shawl across her shoulders.

...

Thought of everything, had he?

"My warriors will set out as soon as my brother returns," he was saying, moving away from her. "Izuna has never failed in negotiation before. We will take a detour before our next job to crush the Sorairo once and for all."

...Loreli shook the shawl from her shoulders and tossed it to the wind that was rushing over the lake. "Oops."

She hadn't counted on him getting out on the water in a flash, retrieving her garment for her.

The tall and long ebony-haired shinobi turned back to her.

Was it strange for her heart to be beating so noticeably in her chest?

The said shinobi arched a long, arrogant eyebrow. "You haven't seen this before?" he remarked, sauntering back to her on the surface of the clear lake, leaving a gentle rippling of water in his wake.

She stared silently as he paused and a smug smirk curled the corner of his dark lips.

He extended a hand to her. "You want to try?" Madara asked with an arrogant tilt of his head.

"Pardon?" Loreli asked, blinking.

"I am the only man you'll ever meet who can channel enough chakra to sustain two people," Madara boasted. "Take my hand."

...

Was he serious?

Loreli eyed his outstretched hand with an skeptical gaze.

"Afraid?" Madara's taunting voice prompted her.

She shifted slightly.

Finally, her curiosity got the better of her as she reluctantly placed her hand in his.

"Ah!" But the next thing she knew, she was pulled right into his lithe but solid frame, bumping her head against him. "Ma-"

His dark chuckle rumbled against her as he wrapped strong arms around her, drawing the two of them further from shore.

Oh-! She-she'd be tricked!

"T-take me back!" she ordered, indignant. It had no effect on his wry amusement, however. Particularly because his sweet wife had to cling onto him to avoid getting herself wet.

One would have thought it would have been an interesting experience despite the circumstances, but Loreli took one look at the clear depths of the lake beneath their feet and decided she'd much rather be back on land.

"P-put me down!" Loreli protested when he slipped an arm under her legs and lifted her up bridal style. "No, put me down!" But she knew it was a futile protest. And struggling would be a bad idea.

"Whatever happened to being able to channel enough chakra to sustain two persons?" she demanded in an accusatory tone.

Madara arched his long, arrogant eyebrows down at her. "What _are _you talking about?" he asked arrogantly. "We aren't sinking are we?"

Loreli's jaw slackened. She couldn't believe this. He was toying with her because she didn't possess the same abilities of a kunoichi.

"Madara."

He heard the danger in that one.

Silent and perhaps just a tad wary, Madara watched with half-lidded eyes as she reached up to him.

She could have done much worse, but...

Here he was, exposing to her a side of himself that he wouldn't reveal even to his closest followers.

...Was this why they had been placed together, she wondered?

Two people who had been forced to grow up fast.

Loreli patted his jaw, much to his apparent surprise.

"Still a child," she coyly said.

She only had a moment's time to register the surprised-turned-peeved look that came over his sharp features.

_Splash._

_Glub._

Madara frowned.

Glub?

* * *

"What are you still doing here?" Loreli asked through clenched teeth, if only to prevent them from clattering.

Madara retorted, "I didn't mean —!"

"Tell that to a dead person next time," she responded in a light, haughty manner. "It is the first time I near drowned."

"I came after you straight away!" he bellowed.

"He tried to strip me the instant we were back on land!" Loreli complained to the woman who was pouring more hot water into the tub at her feet.

"That was-!" Madara started, but a sneeze from the young woman herself said enough.

Loreli coughed, and the one who was tending to her handed her a mug of water.

"The woman who can do anything does not know how to swim," Madara remarked as a way of explanation.

"Enough," Loreli breathed, holding up a hand and waving him away. "I am miserable and want to rest."

His lips tightened into a thin line. For some damned reason, even the women were sneaking glares at him this time.

Curtly. "Will you send for me once you're feeling better?" the long ebony-haired shinobi asked.

She gave a blunt, one-word reply: "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Madara pressed, a frown appearing.

"Yes, maybe," she confirmed, her tone dripping impatience. "Maybe I won't send for you," she coolly said, "and _maybe_ I won't be feeling better. Now _leave."_

* * *

...

The young woman fluffed up her pillow for the umpteenth time.

From his spot he heard her sigh as she laid her head back down, her eyes blinking as she stared through the darkness at the wall ahead of her, but not seeing him there.

It looked like she couldn't find her rest.

He had returned only to check up on her before snatching a few hours of sleep before daybreak. Izuna would be back sometime tomorrow, and Madara doubted he'd have much time to spare after that. The sooner they could set out, the _sooner _he could confront Sorairo Ikezoe and settle what they had started four years ago at the borderlands.

Apparently, she was being plagued by her own troubles.

Letting out another sigh, she tried adjusting her pillow.

"You're still furious with me?"

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up, staring as Uchiha Madara emerged from the shadows.

...

Her posture was rigid. He waited, expecting for her to tell him to scram again, if the aura she was giving off was any indication.

After a very long, and very intent look at him, however, the young woman settled back down on her bed, facing away from him.

"...You know I will hold this over your head for as long as you live," she finally said.

Relief eased the tension in his muscles. He wasn't afraid of what she might ask of him, if it meant she would still allow him chances.

"Madara," Loreli warned when she felt him lift her blanket and climb into her bed with her.

"Shhh," he hushed her, his voice causing goose bumps to rise on her skin. "Let me have this much. I won't do anything."

She tsked, but refrained from commenting on his wearing unclean clothes to her bed. She didn't exactly need him removing anything.

"You shouldn't be here," she said. Men weren't allowed in the women's quarters. "It isn't proper."

And neither was she comfortable being sandwiched between him and the wall facing her. Hers wasn't exactly a bed meant for two.

"I'd like to see someone try to force me out," was Madara's arrogant response.

"It isn't proper," she repeated with calm.

"Then come back," Madara told her, arm tightening on her waist. "Come back to my quarters."

...

"...I'll think about it," she tonelessly replied, deciding to avoid the topic altogether.

Fortunately for her, Madara didn't pursue it further. Unfortunately for her, he moved onto another topic she had a greater aversion to.

"Now will you tell me what is between you and that man?" he requested to know.

That question. She had been wondering when he would bring it up. She knew that the moment he made mention of the Sorairo clan that it would eventually come to this, again.

"...Who, Madara-sama?" she replied.

"I need to know," Madara demanded of her, serious. "Whatever it may be. I will need to know in order to protect you. It is both my duty and my privilege," he said.

...She was silent.

"Loreli."

"Perhaps one day," she said to the wall before her, "...I will tell you everything."

"...But that is up to you," Loreli added quietly, feeling the lure of sleep finally call to her.

"I'm not pleased with this," she heard Madara say. "I am your husband, yet I know close to nothing of who you are. I said I will accept you regardless, while it doesn't make me any more alleviated to know you are keeping me out. I don't know your family name or where you are from. I don't know the date of your birth. I don't even know if 'Loreli' is your real name."

"What outcome are you aiming for, if I am the only one contributing to making this work between us?" he demanded lightly, but sternly.

Her lashes drooped over her eyes. She laid still for a moment, before replying.

"It is my real name, Madara-sama," Loreli replied blandly. "And my birthday..." a resigned sigh.

"...it was yesterday."

...

* * *

She regretted telling him.

"Pray tell me," Loreli said dryly into his black mane, "if I should get use to being snatched away in the mornings without any form of warning."

"Peace," Madara demanded, having received an earful of her complaints the entire way. "We're here."

...She was placed down, and she smoothed her yukata back into looking decent before she cast a glance around. Here? Here was...

Loreli blinked out the dust that had blown into her eyes, shielding them from the sun overhead with one hand.

It was the small town nearest to the Uchiha stronghold, and furthest away from civilization without being lost in the wastelands. It was situated at the outskirt of Fire Country, serving as a trading post between Fire and a small trade route to the western countries.

"...I don't suppose we're here to negotiate for a new supplier," Loreli murmured to herself.

"Here." Dumping a pouch of coins into her hand. "Get what you want," Madara ordered her.

She frowned lightly and her mouth moved as if to protest. But then she changed her mind.

"If you say so then..." a small, wry smile "...don't mind if I spend everything."

* * *

...The woman really was planning on spending everything. Which by itself wasn't a problem for him, but. Madara frowned. How was she expecting him to carry all that?

The glowering, ebony-haired shinobi watched as she moved from one stall to another, drawing longing gazes of the merchants she had visited after her. He wouldn't say that she was _flirting _with them, but she radiated wonder and praise so fine that the men didn't stand a chance.

Damn it. Madara glared murderously at the blushing young man his wife was currently conversing with from his bench outside a nearby restaurant. She had ordered him there after deciding that his looming presence had been intimidating too many of the stall keepers. He didn't have to put up with this. His hands were itching to grab her away from their admiring eyes.

He could just hear her words now: _"...If you were going to be jealous over it, why bother bringing me here at all?"_

And what could he say to that? He had wanted to give her some time to herself. She didn't exactly have an easy path laid out for her, and from now on, Madara determined, he would be the pillar that will provide her comfort.

He hadn't counted on getting this jealous, however. Who could blame him? She'd _never. _laughed or smiled like that while with him.

"More sake!" Madara barked at the owner, tearing his eyes away from her for a moment as she struck up a conversation with a female vendor. He really didn't need to hear her half-spun lies about having a jealous husband who rarely let her out of the house one more time.

When he looked back, she was already by the hunter who sold exotic animals. Before he could see what was transpiring, however, a screen of red and black patterned cloth blocked his line of sight.

Madara frowned up at the two saucy, attractive females who had stopped right before him, shadowing him with their paper umbrellas, their richly coloured kimono hanging low enough to reveal their shoulders.

"You are by yourself, handsome?" the first woman asked, pouting her red painted lips.

He knew immediately what he was dealing with. He attracted these kinds wherever he went: the kind who were sly or reckless enough to approach him while the rest of the patrons have retreated to the far corners of the restaurant; the kind who were drawn to his darkness and his power.

More than likely, these were the daughters of some rich merchant family who were not expected to take over family business, and felt no need to get married either. They spent their time collecting exotic things, comparing rarity with their friends and rivals. Many a shinobi clan have hired out its ninja to these frivolous patrons as bodyguards. The practice was regarded with scorn and suspicion by other shinobi clans, but it exists. He himself had to resort to the convenience of these arrangements more than once when he had first taken Izuna and had left their clan. It was the easiest way for a ninja without a clan to move around without being marked by every shinobi clan he came across, particularly in countries outside one's own.

Those days were behind him.

"I'm with someone," Madara said curtly, jaw taut and mouth set in a thin line.

The impertinent woman didn't even spare a backward glance to check whoever it was that he was referring to.

"Why don't you spend some time with me instead?" she suggested, slithering into his lap, much to his concealed annoyance. "I can use someone of your..." smokey eyes referring to the weapons he wore openly at his waist, symbolizing his class as a ninja "ability," she completed.

Her kimono was spun from imported silks, and the scent of expensive ointments lingered in her hair. Her looks and her composure were not displeasing, far from it. She gave off enough pheromones to turn the head of every male who passed by.

She didn't repulse him, to say the least. But for her to act towards him this brazenly; it could only mean that she didn't realize who he was.

Propping his elbow up on the table beside him, he arched his long, arrogant eyebrows. "You want me as your protector?" Uchiha Madara asked in his smooth, deliberate tone of voice. A small, cruel smirk curled the edges of his lips as he told her lightly, tauntingly: "You can't _aff_ord me."

"Oh...?" Those red lips drew together in a pout as darkened lashes lowered over her eyes. She didn't laugh or inquire further into his claim. She accepted it as the claim any high ranking shinobi would make.

Brushing a loose tendril of hair from her bare shoulder, she asked, "What if money isn't the only pay I am offering...?"

He was getting impatient in ending this charade. He couldn't keep an eye on his defenseless wife while being blocked like this.

"If you're not one to break easy, then I'm happy to oblige," Madara said with a mocking twitch of his head. _"I" _Sharingan activating _"love it when you women cry."_

She had frozen rigid. Certainly she knew of the Uchiha clan and the power of their eyes, but she had never before heard of ones such as his described. Clearly she could tell that he wasn't the average shinobi.

At least she knew how to stand down gracefully.

"Is that so?" she said smoothly, rising up. "Then give my regards to your partner, for I am certain she is made of sterner material."

That she was. A light smirk tugged at his lips. But it disappeared as soon as the umbrella lifted away from his view.

His elegant lady stood on the other side. And she did not look happy.

_Shit._

...After a brief pause, she came to him.

Unceremoniously dumped her baggage into his lap.

Without a word to him, she turned to head off again.

"It can't be," Madara said in a light drawling voice. "You are jealous...?"

She stopped. The eyes she regarded down at him with. And the ghostly shadow of a smile.

"...Of what, Madara-sama?"

If it caused a man such as him to feel chills down his back on a dry hot day, that said something about how cold it was.

So she had heard.

Cursing to himself, Madara grabbed picked up her purchases and chased after her. "Loreli."

"Loreli."

He caught up to her as she was leaving the marketplace.

Dropping everything, he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her into him. "It's not like that," Madara insisted, soothing the nape of her neck with one hand. "You know it's not like that." All the times he had made her cry never left his mind.

Her tears stained deeper than blood.

They stood that way, his forehead resting against hers and his long black mane framing her face. She was still, unspeaking.

...Her name was on the tip of his tongue, but his brow furrowed.

...Madara removed his hand from her hair, stepping back a step.

_"You," _Uchiha Madara growled out aggressively, his red eyes slimming with malice. _"This town is _Uchiha _territory. Which clan do you belong to?"_

She blinked and tensed in surprise as a dozen masked ninja drew out of their hiding, approaching from all sides.

He'd been aware of their chakra for a while now. At least they were choosing to confront him directly.

Madara stepped before her. "Wait for me at the restaurant," he told her commandingly. "Don't look back."

She hesitated, but obeyed, slipping away from behind him.

He returned his focus onto the trespassers. The fact that they haven't answered his question said enough. There simply was no such thing as _accidentally _crossing into another clan's territory. They were here to keep an eye on his clan's movement.

"You came at a bad time." A dark, predatory smirk curled his cruel lips as the leader of the Uchiha clan stretched his neck, his Sharingan whirring. "Now then..."

* * *

...

Loreli sat straight and still on the low bench before the restaurant, closing her eyes to shut out the harsh sun.

The man boasted of his strength often enough. She shouldn't be surprised if he were to turn up with a self-satisfied smirk sooner than expected.

Shadow fell over her.

"Ey, I found another one!" the man called to his comrades. "She resembles the woman we're looking for."

She looked up as another one crowded her view.

"Idiot, she doesn't just resemble the woman: she _is _the woman we're looking for."

...

"You are Loreli-san, are you not?" the man who appeared to be their leader asked down at her. "Don't you recognize me?"

She did.

He had been a guard at the castle.

"We're here under orders to find you and have you brought back to the princess."

* * *

**_..._**

**A/N:** Alright, alright, I know I said these were to be filler chapters.

But I am a writer who has immense difficulty with writing one-shots...or anything short and standalone. I couldn't...isolate stuff from the plot entirely. v.v

So let's...carry onward...slowly...


	31. Hopeless Mine II

**A/N: **To all my dear readers who thought that jealousy was portrayed in the latter bits of the previous chapter...well, I encourage you to reread that entire section again. You are, of course, free to interpret her reaction whichever way you want, as long as you are aware that there is also another way of looking at it ;)

**ShadowDream92**: but, for the record, I believe the answer to your question is: Nope. 8D

* * *

**Till You Die**

29 - _Hopeless Mine II_

* * *

...

It couldn't be...a coincidence?

"...If you are truly acting on the princess's orders," the young woman slowly replied, "show me her seal."

A nod to one of the men produced a scroll that was handed to her.

She accepted it, unrolling it to scan through its contents.

All that was there was an image of her in ink, her name, and...the princess Yuzuzu's royal seal.

...

"Excuse me for a moment," Loreli said, rising up. They parted a path for her as she took a few tentative steps forward.

The stall hawking roasted chestnuts opposite to the restaurant caught her eye.

"Yes, my lady?" the stall keeper addressed her as he saw her approach. "What would you like-"

"What are you doing!" the yell went up behind her as she tossed the parchment into flames, watching as it was consumed in a ball of curling black smoke.

"...You think I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a real and a fake?" Loreli questioned. "This one...is a fake."

"Who. sent you, really?" she coolly asked.

"Fake? Have you lost your mind?" demanded the leader of the group, striding over to her in a huff. "Ignoring a summons by your liege is considered treason!"

"As is the forging of her seal," she calmly replied.

"You-!" he started angrily, but controlled himself.

"No matter," he said to the others. "We can't return without her."

"You are making a mistake," Loreli told them as two of them took her by the arms.

People who stopped to stare did not interfere. They were townsfolk and merchants who had little to gain from offending officials.

Escape was not an option. She was no match for their strength. They took her out of the marketplace and toward the town gates.

"I am not alone. He will not be pleased."

"These are orders," came the blunt retort.

She went silent, only for a brief moment.

"You are certain?" Loreli asked. "That seal has only passed through your hands?"

"If what you say is true," she continued calmly, "where is Katamori?"

He swung around, backhanding her soundly before she could even blink.

"Shut _up!"_ he snarled. "That Oda boy only rose to high in rank because of you, you witch!"

"Do you remember Hakudo?" the man aggressively demanded. "Do you remember my friend?"

"Because of you! He lost everything because he fell out of your favour! You have no conscience, toying with the fates of men! Hakudo was serious about you!"

...

She met his furious glare, expressionless, unmoving.

"...Which one was that?" Loreli asked coolly.

She saw his muscles tense.

_SMACK._

She tasted blood.

"Takke." One of her arms was freed as the man to her right began to argue with her aggressor. "You forget; we'll have to explain this."

A grunt tore itself from the man on her left when she jabbed her elbow into his side with all her might.

"Catch her!" someone yelled after her as she took advantage of the loosened grip on her arm to flee.

Loreli hissed in as rough hands grabbed at the collar of her yukata, at her hair.

She was thrown against the sandy ground, scraping her elbow.

"Shit," someone cursed. "She won't just play mute. What will we do about her?"

The man who struck her, the leader of their group, was pensive for a moment.

"There are plenty of witnesses," he decided, his countenance foreboding. Out he drew a dagger from its scabbard at his waist.

"Since she didn't come willingly."

Loreli pursed her lips, paling as she stared at his towering figure above her. It was no mere threat. The hatred this man had for her rolled off in putrid waves.

She couldn't. She couldn't allow them to do this.

"Madara," she whispered, edging back numbly.

"Madara!" she called for him, louder this time. "Madara!"

She saw the glint of the sun's ray on the blade. Saw the man's menacing frown, mouth moving.

But there was not even time for them to react to finding the tall, black-clad shinobi suddenly in their midst.

"Who the-"

Eyes of crimson.

The dagger fell to the ground as Madara twisted the man's forearm painfully, at the same time hooking another man's neck with one leg.

Slams sounded loudly as one was thrown mercilessly against the ground, another swung into a nearby comrade.

"You-"

"Ugh!"

Shouts. And cries of agony. Their swords barely made it halfway out of their sheaths before he struck down the remaining men, tearing up the ground, and sending stacks of wooden crates toppling down.

Dust rose to the air. Like a **_furious. black. gale._**

"Madara," she said, her heart racing still.

Red blood dotted the dry earth, despite the fact that no blade had been drawn. Those who were plummeted back down again learned to remain down.

"Madara," choking on his pain, "_The_ Uchiha Madara?" the leader of the group coughed out. Apparently their informant had neglected this detail. Beads of sweat lined his brow. "We weren't aware-"

His words were cut short when a sandal came down on his outstretched arm.

Applying enough pressure was all it took on Madara's part. It was a terrible sound.

"AAARRRRGHHHHHHN!"

He was yanked ruthlessly to eye-level, meeting with Uchiha Madara's sinister red eyes.

_"You"_ a tone deadlier than venom _"touched_ _my precious wife." _

A low, mocking growl entered his dark voice. _"So I will be taking both arms."_

The crunching of bones was even louder this time.

As was the scream.

Loreli stared, unseeing; she was shuddering and trying to shut out the sensations of dizziness and nausea.

"What say you?" Madara asked with an air of boredom and nonchalance, calling her attention back to him. He had the battered man by the neck, his tall, powerful frame half-turned towards her.

A steady, unwavering gaze. He elaborated, "Do you want me to kill him?"

It was as though an unaccountable shadow fell over them, a wave of cold accompanying it.

"No. No, Madara," Loreli replied.

His red eyes strayed from her.

"Be grateful," Madara snarled, unkindly flinging the groaning man from him, to where said man's recovering comrades caught him. "My wife is not _nearly_ as unforgiving as I am." A snide warning: "The next time I lay eyes on any of you will be the day_ you die. _If you understood that _then__ scram!"_

They did. Hastily. Or as hasty as a group of severely injured men could retreat.

"Madara..."

He turned to her. She felt her heart pulsate deep within her throat.

...Was he going to ask her what that was about? Or...had he already realized?

Her heart skipped as she saw him approach, abruptly coming to a halt before her, gazing down with an ominous expression. Long fingers lifted her chin up.

"Who hit you?"

He didn't even wait for her reply. She caught his sleeve.

"Madara," Loreli insisted. "It was I who provoked him. Madara." Her free hand moved soothingly over his solid, tensed chest. "I know you can destroy him with no effort at all. So..."

She was taken aback by the full force of his glare.

"I don't _appreciate _your humouring me!" Madara snarled, his red eyes narrowing angrily.

Her heart hammering at her throat, Loreli realized her error.

This arrogant, powerful shinobi had brought her to places. Shown her his devotion. Came when she called.

She had no right to speak as though he was doing it all for her for the sake of boosting his own ego.

"...Sorry," Loreli quietly said, hesitantly retracting her hand.

"...Don't leave..."

That frown on his brow didn't lessen, but she had a feeling he would yield to her request. And that he did. Without another word, Uchiha Madara reached forward to curtly adjust the neck of her yukata that she hadn't noticed slip open when her pursuers had grabbed at her. He lifted in into his strong arms.

...She wanted to ask him what happened with the trespassing ninja, but she remained silent on the matter. Not because people were staring as he carried her to the town gates, but because of the dark stoic expression pronounced profoundly on his sharp features.

"...You're angry?" Loreli chanced asking. He most certainly heard it: Her heart pounding. What was that scary expression for? What if he knew-

Sharply. "Did I not say to wait for me at the restaurant!" Madara boomed, startling her with the unexpected intensity of his voice. "So as soon as you are a bit mad, you make a run for it?" he snapped.

...Huh?

Her mouth was dry, yet she started to protest, "You thought—"

_"Silence!" _Madara sharply ordered, turning his head slightly.

Loreli pursed her lips, indignant.

"An attractive, defenseless female such as yourself," the long ebony-haired shinobi remarked brusquely, his eyes never straying from up front, "How will you get by without someone strong enough to protect you?"

She had to clench her jaw, her cheeks warming in anger. But at the same time... With a reluctant intake of breath, Loreli slowly wrapped her arms around the man's rigid and powerful neck, gingerly laying the side of her head against him. Though he wouldn't look at her now, she could tell from the terseness in his voice and the tension still coursing through his body that the arrogant and fearless man had genuinely been worried about her.

...And so, despite herself, Loreli closed her eyes and banked the flame.

...

She knew it was she who had never given him any reason to trust her.

It was she who had warned him that soon as an opportunity arises, she would leave him.

...

...But by the time they have arrived back at the stronghold, her blood was boiling once more.

"Well, well. If it isn't my favourite couple."

Izuna had that all-knowing grin on his handsome face as he greeted them inside the gates.

The instant Madara stopped moving, she leaped from his arms and hurried off, nursing her swelling cheek. She only paused momentarily to reach down to pet the small cub that had plopped down from Izuna's hold to chase after her. "Come here, Precious."

"...Just so we're clear on one thing," the young woman coolly said as she passed by Izuna. "I don't like you."

A chuckle answered her. "I'm afraid I can't say the feeling's mutual," Izuna replied. She did not look back.

...

"It's not that I'm against you taking her outside," Izuna commented with amusement as he watched her retreating figure. "But if you keep bringing her back in worse shape than before, people will talk."

Ignored. Madara stared after his wife, the tendons in his neck taut. He started moving in an opposite direction, toward the Center Complex.

"Might I ask what happened in town?" the younger of the two brothers questioned, leisurely following along with a quirked eyebrow.

The leader of the Uchiha clan folded his arms, assuming an air of authority. "There were a couple of rats sneaking about in that town. Send men at once!" Madara commanded.

"They gave you trouble? You?" Izuna fell into step beside Madara as they stepped briskly in the direction of the buildings. "Any clue to which clan they belong?"

"Tsch." Dark lips curled back into a snarl, Madara spat out, "I killed four of them before she cried for help. I doubt they will leave bodies behind. A perfectly executed escape plan."

_Unforgivable,_ using his wife as diversion. Those weren't ninja. He hadn't been alerted by their chakra at all.

And even_ if_ it were a mere coincidence, his cautious and vengeful way of doing things forbade him to overlook it.

His countenance was cold, solemn: the calculating look of a merciless warlord.

They'll pay dearly for their crime.

"Sorairo?" Izuna questioned, never failing to become serious when the situation demanded.

"We leave in the dead of night." That was the answer he received.

* * *

He didn't see her again until much later, when Izuna was filling him in with the conditions of their newest contract.

She entered the great hall balancing two trays of food, her presence immediately drawing his notice even if he didn't divert his attention from what his second-in-command was saying.

Her pretty eyes spotted them at the end of the hall, and she approached cautiously.

"Neither of you have eaten," she said evenly. "So I have taken the liberty."

The young woman knelt next to them, setting the dishes forward on the table before them.

Taken the liberty of preparing his least favourite dishes, that is, Uchiha Madara thought with a frown and a silent growl resonating deep inside his throat.

He couldn't believe that she had just narrowly escaped his anger only to test his patience again!

Just what was it _this_ time?

"I've heard." She did him the favour of sparing him the incomprehension. "You've sent men after them. Despite telling me you wouldn't." Her eyes lifted up to meet his. "Why?"

Madara's eyes widened with incredulity. He said no such thing! Moreover-

Snatching her elbow, "Why do you defend them!" Madara demanded, bellowing. "Do you not know what they could have done to you—what they would do to you if they see you again!"

The sight of her bandaged cheek only served to fuel his anger.

He exploded, "You could have been injured, violated, or worse!"

Did she not understand? Madara thought furiously. She couldn't _not _understand!

...

She parted her lips as if to speak, but he forestalled her words by ordering, "Murata! Make _sure_ she is not allowed one step outside the stronghold while I'm gone." His furious obsidian orbs pinning her to the spot. "I don't _need_ that kind of distraction."

"Yes, Madara-sama."

...She was quiet for a long moment.

Then, she drew back her arm and bent forward in a respectful bow. "...I understand. If it is what my husband commands."

He felt it. A prick of unease when she spared Izuna a blank glance before turning away.

"They are vermin who deserve death for what they've nearly done to you," Madara stated darkly. "They can't be forgiven."

"...Ah," she said, her light, gentle voice trailing back to him as she left the pair of brothers alone. "You speak as though you weren't at all the same as them...Madara-sama."

Eyes wide.

_...What!_

But she had gone out of sight.

_...  
_

That had _stung. _

Disbelief immobilized his bones.

"She's mad," Madara stated the obvious, gazing to Izuna with a frown.

"Well yes," Izuna confirmed with an amused grin. "Why shouldn't she be?"

Madara stared at the younger man who was picking at his food in a relaxed manner.

"You don't even know what happened!" he stormed.

"No," Izuna easily agreed. "But."

A chuckle. "She doesn't seem the type who will utter a word in defense where her opinion isn't wanted," Izuna observed aloud. So she still treated his brother the same as the rest, did she? Inwardly, Izuna shook his head. He supposed it had been too much to ask for within such a tight time frame.

"Not utter a—Do you have any idea the _complaints_ I endure each time I'm with her?" Madara shot back, glowering. Why was it so hard to please one damn woman?

Izuna finished the rest of his soup in one gulp, rising up from his mat.

"Then let me tell you something good, my brother," the younger Uchiha said, loosely crossing his arms before him. "The moment you realize that she has no more words of complaint for you...is the moment you know that she has given up on you." A smooth laugh. "Now then, shall I buy you a bit of time before we have to be off?"

This was Izuna asking him. Did he have a _choice?_

"And some words of advice, dear brother," Izuna turned halfway to tell him, his long, thin ponytail swinging back. "Regardless of how much much she will beg or threaten you, _never._ permit her to visit her princess." Intelligent gaze locking with his.

"Not unless you intend to lose her for good."

* * *

"I want to talk."

"...Is that so? I don't want to talk."

Silence.

The muscles in his neck worked, but it seemed he was able to keep himself in check.

"I will be gone after this. This campaign is expected to last three weeks."

"My." Loreli removed her hand from the door. She knew very well that she couldn't force him away if he didn't want to leave. "...Is it fine if the leader of the clan is not busy training or doing preparations?" she asked lightly.

"Heh."

She glanced to see his shadowy figure leaning against the door frame with arms folded, a posture of arrogance and calm. Light, she wanted light. But she didn't want to do anything unnecessary that would encourage his stay.

"If I didn't know better," she heard his light, arrogant drawl, "I'd say you were worried about me."

...She looked back for along moment.

Blandly. "_Just die_ in the upcoming battle."

Arms dropping to his sides in shock._ "What?" _Madara demanded, grabbing her arm and pinning her against the wall before she was given the opportunity to escape into her bathroom. The delicate woman flinched beneath his hard stare.

Shadows clung to his sharp features like a living mask. She pursed her lips.

His voice low and softly sinister, Madara leaned forward to corner her flat against the wall, stating, "You don't mean that."

...

Loreli met his scrutinizing gaze through her lashes. Everything was dark; quiet; giving the illusion of slowing time. He wasn't intimidating her on purpose and already she found it difficult to breathe.

"...Of course I don't mean it," she finally said, averting her gaze.

He tilted her chin back to face him.

"You can't say that before anyone else," Madara told her in quiet warning.

Briefly, her eyes flickered to him...until she looked away again. "...I know."

The tall, long ebony-haired shinobi said nothing more, staying motionless before her.

His unwavering stare was doing things...unspeakable things to her body. Too close. Her stomach flipped. She inhaled his scent, speaking. "Madara..."

Her heart leaped up to her throat when she saw him close the gap between them, his smooth, breathless words caressing her ear.

_"I want to embrace you."_

Loreli swallowed, her eyes lowering. "I-..."

She shuddered when his hands found her waist and thigh.

"I am in no mood for this." She shoved against his arm and shoulder, recalling why she was unhappy with him.

He let her out, much to her relief...however temporary that may be.

When she chanced a glance back at him, Uchiha Madara had propped his elbow against the wall of her room, lazily resting his neck against it. "Have I offended you in some way?" Madara asked in a light drawl, arching a long, arrogant eyebrow at her.

Loreli pursed her lips.

There was a moment of pensive silence before she answered coolly.

"You want me to give you my word? Very well, then I will say it clearly."

She clutched her arms briefly before turning to him, to where he was watching her with his infuriating nonchalance under the moon's light.

"I said I will stay and support you until the time comes when I will make a more permanent decision. It means that within these five months," one hand over her chest, she told him clearly, _"...I am yours._"

"I won't run, Madara." Meeting his gaze evenly. "I will not go back on my word. So..."

Her voice lowering as her gaze fell. _"...don't keep anything from me either."_

...When Loreli looked up again, he was directly before her.

"If that is cleared up," she said quickly, retreating. His long, cool fingers gripped her jaw and held her fast.

"Can I believe that?" Uchiha Madara questioned in his dark, velvety voice, his red eyes slimming slightly down at her in the darkness. His long, taunting eyebrows rose up. "From a woman who looks like she is ready to bolt whenever I come near?"

...

"...You're right. On second thought," Loreli said blandly, "I don't care what you believe. Now will you leave me in peace?"

"Or what?" Madara asked her with a mocking twitch of his head, his long hair rustling over his black clothing. "You will leave me?"

...She pursed her lips. She drew away.

"...I have given you my reason," Loreli said coolly. She asked him, "Why are you still angry?"

His one red eye, unobstructed by his long ebony bangs, flashed to the bruise left on the side of her face.

The hand cradling her face was gentle despite his arrogant and authoritarian voice. "You can't seriously consider me the same as those low-lifes," Madara made it a statement.

...Her mouth moved on its own, shaping a silent 'o'.

"I get that you still bear a grudge," Madara informed her, seriously regarding her. His head slanting to better see her face. "That aside, you can't possibly still see me the same way as before," he decided for her.

How very eloquent of him, to go about deciding what she thought for her.

...Loreli craned her neck, hugging her arms. It was suddenly all too difficult to meet his scrutinizing gaze.

"...Madara-sama," she finally garnered enough courage to say. "Madara-sama..." she wet her lips "is a respectable man. A serious man..." She looked up coyly at him, lightly touching his chest. "...and..." A faint blush heated her cheeks. "...a surprisingly considerate lover."

"Not that I know any comparison," Loreli huffed, pulling back before he could even speak; shrugging and shaking her head lightly from side to side.

An ominous glare answered her.

There was a suspense pause as Madara watched her silently, an aggrieved frown etched on his arrogant, handsome face.

Would it _kill her t_o hint that she would miss him, even if a little bit?

She stifled a gasp when she felt his arms slip around her from behind. A dark, humourless chuckle sent shivers down her spine.

"And I intend to keep it that way," Madara's darkly seductive voice flowed into her ear. "You'll just have to believe it."

...

His lips on the nape of her neck. "Ma-" she started uneasily, only to be interrupted.

"Have I not waited long enough?" she was asked, by a low, desire-laden voice as enticing as sin.

She bit her lip, twisting in his arms. He hissed in a breath. "Don't fight," Madara said hoarsely, grabbing her wrists and pulling her around to face him. "You have no idea what that does to me," his voice rumbled in a half-whisper.

She grew calm.

Then, unexpectedly, she leaned up on tiptoes, laying a kiss at the base of his neck. "I...will move back to your quarters, so..." her pretty eyes peering up at him "give me a bit more time."

...He lost to her.

Sleekly. "You understand what this means," said Madara, carefully watching her with heavy-lidded eyes. His thumb rubbed against the palm of her hand. "You're not allowed to move out again."

...Her lashes lowered. "I understand, completely."

_Ah._ It was his loss, Madara was forced to acknowledge. She was his cherished rose: breathtaking to look upon, painful to hold.

A snide twitch of his head. "At least tell me to come back safe," Madara commanded.

...Loreli blinked at him blankly. He arched his long, taunting eyebrows expectantly.

It wasn't like...he needed any assurance, but...

Since he did try to make her happy...

...She leaned forward and kissed him sweetly.

"I won't forgive you otherwise," Loreli softly replied.

He stared at her, expression indecipherable.

"Heh." He then moved forward, pressing his lips against her ear.

_"You'll crave me,"_ Madara informed her, his voice deep and imposing. _"You will suffer."_

And then he was gone, leaving her only her breathless state to confirm that he was ever there at all.

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

I.O.U. fillers. I think...I advanced the sequence of events too quickly in the previous chapter, can't exactly turn it back now. But I will find a way, I promiseee.

And one more thing.

I've stated this before, and I will state it again. At this point in time I have not posted my fanfics on any other site than fanfiction dot net. More than likely, I never will, unless this site breaks down.

It is costing me a significant amount of stress to find that, despite the note pleading against plagiarism I put up in February(correction: not February, actually, much earlier), there is/are certain individual(s) who still continue to disregard the effort I put into writing. I think at this point, taking this into account, I can safely say that this will be the last fanfic I will be committed to. I plan to start drawing manga again after this, with my net-sis who is also the proofreader of some of my chapters.

Once again, I will state that I do not mind if my story is being posted anywhere else, **_AS LONG AS _**no one is _pretending_ to be the author. I do not write this story for myself. I would have quit several times already given the pain it costs to worry about updates. I write it for my characters. I write it for the audience to know their story. I believe I am the one to know my own characters best—though they give me headaches at times. It just _pisses me off_ to see someone else act like they know everything.

If you ever come across such a thing, _please _inform me. I want to do everything I can to have it taken down.


	32. Hopeless Mine III

**A/N: **Thank you, guys :)

* * *

**Till You Die**

30 - _Hopeless Mine III_

* * *

"What is it?" Madara strode over to where Izuna awaited him up in front. The row of shinobi ahead of him parted aside.

Nine bodies lay cold and motionless on the dead earth. The blood had stopped flowing some time ago.

"Scouts," confirmed Izuna.

"Our scouts."

...

The leader of the Uchiha clan gestured with one gloved hand. The rest of them, all except Izuna, stepped back.

These were the men sent ahead to investigate the Sorairo clan's activity from the day before.

"Poison?" Izuna questioned.

"No," Madara decided, removing his hand from the body he had flipped over. "It is too violent."

"Leader!" a warrior called to his attention, returning from the within the silent walls of the Sorairo base. "There's no one in the west vicinity of the stronghold."

"There's no one manning the towers!" a shout sounded out.

Madara straightened up tall.

_"What?" _he demanded. This blasted scenario-

"I'll go on ahead," Izuna informed him. Without waiting for a reply, the younger Uchiha shot away from formation at a speed easily surpassing the rest of the Uchiha shinobi.

"Leader!" More reports were coming in, boding ill for the Uchiha army.

The leader of the Uchiha clan barked, "Those who are not with a member of the council, follow me!"

He spun, dashing in the direction where he could feel Izuna's chakra already present.

"Madara," Izuna acknowledged his arrival, half-turned toward him.

What confronted his eyes turned the blood in his veins into molten lava.

The vultures and other scavengers of the wastelands have been at them, filthy feathers sticking to what was left of their corpse. They have been dead for longer than the scouts have, but they have by no means experienced a quick and clean death as the latter. A precise line had been drawn across each of their throats, but it had only been deep enough to allow blood to flow, soaking down their front.

Ropes and chains wouldn't have been able to bind them, but their limbs have been pierced by hooks and immobilized by binding seals. But what had incensed him the most.

Their _eyes. _

Only two hollow caverns caked with black blood remained where their widely famed and feared eyes have been.

The scavengers and flies haven't been able to resist the scent. A few not yet mature birds lay dead, having lost their lives in the scramble for fresh meat. The smell was indescribable.

"This is why no one met up with us," Izuna's voice was solemn. "But, to think that not even one of them..."

"Take them down!" Madara ordered, rage simmering in his veins.

_Sorairo Ikezoe, _he thought vindictively as his men rushed to his command. _The thing which you were searching for in the borderlands. __Have you found it?_

Madara strode past the others, coming to the bottom of the huge rock crevice, the imposing walls of stone towering up on either side. It was pitch black down there; the eerie sounds of trapped wind occasionally surfacing from the deep. It was a natural labyrinth, ancient as time itself; reaching far into the recesses of the earth where daylight didn't travel. It stretched far and wide, and there was no telling how many other exits there were, if any. None of those would have made him hesitate, however. Except for one more characteristic of the crevice that served as deterrent.

Poisonous fumes rose from the bottom of the crevice. It was a toxin strong enough to cause atony to the muscles within hours, and prolonged exposure resulted in death. Without the antitoxins at his disposal, it was too costly a gamble to send his numbers into the narrow passages of the earth.

His fists tightened and his lips curled back.

"They broke our seal," Izuna interrupted, looking to the rock debris piled on either side of them. The seal had been a powerful one, one which took the pair of brothers effort to acquire. The Sorairo clan had been no match for it, not in the battle where the Uchiha subjugated their clan. To Ikezoe, however; it would not be inconceivable for him to find a method to deactivate it.

"You think they've retreated to their ancestral home?" Izuna questioned, coming up behind him.

Madara promptly replied, "No."

His men have successfully completed a rotation change only four days ago; the Sorairo couldn't have made their move before then. Leaving the corpses to the scavengers didn't mask enough from him: Their deaths had occurred shortly after the rotation change had been made.

But the Sorairo clan's new leader had been paying him a thoughtful visit at that time. The sly man had brought with him a dozen of his highest ranking clan members under the pretense that it was to congratulate his marriage. Madara knew clearly, now, that his purpose was entirely different.

_"Alas," _he recalled Ikezoe's languid voice,_ "this isn't the only reason why I'm here...You are no doubt aware where I have spent the majority of my past years. There is... information which would be most useful to you."_

Reaching to his side, Madara flipped out the long scroll Ikezoe had handed him that day.

It was there, scrawled in perfect blank ink. The layout of the Sorairo Valley.

Was it a bait, or a bluff?

"He is still out there," Madara gritted out, scrunching the paper in his hand. The Ikezoe they knew would not be satisfied with simply escaping annihilation. The Sorairo leader and his band had not headed back to their stronghold: Uchiha scouts have followed them until they left Uchiha was also the incident in the trade post yesterday.

He had let the pests escape in exchange for insuring his wife's safety, but Uchiha Madara did not tolerate disrespect; and he was _thorough _about it. But by the time his men located them, each one of her assaulters had been found already dead.

Silencing subordinates once they have outlived their usefulness. A trademark of Ikezoe's that apparently hadn't changed since back then.

Bluntly. "Why is he interested in her?" Madara demanded. That shrewd man risked capture to show before his lovely wife.

"I know what you are thinking, brother," Izuna informed him from his side. "But, as long as she is within our stronghold walls, Ikezoe cannot touch her. What should concern us at the present," he reminded,_ "is how he brought down shinobi of our clan."_

By strength alone, the Uchiha shinobi who were tasked in keeping an eye on the Sorairo clan should have been matchless. Something sinister lurked where their Sharingan could not reach. Madara's eyes narrowed maliciously at the abyss before him. Arrogant and determined he was, but he was no fool. It was a futile deed to lead his army into dangerous territory if it would not cut off the snake's head. Ikezoe had always been a solidary schemer. The man could care less if the Uchiha had the rest of the Sorairo clan back under their control.

He turned to the side, gazing back at the Uchiha army awaiting his command.

Was he going to split his army, now, when the job ahead of them demanded the breaking up of his forces?

"There's nothing that can be done now," Izuna's voiced his input. "Not until we have a better idea of what we're dealing with. And we are due on the battlefield in less than three days. I suggest you make arrangements."

His brother was right. A rushed and clumsily deviced strategy would only lead them to ruin. If Ikezoe was still out there, the cleanest of ways was to find him. He will show him that there _was no place on earth that was safe from the reaches of an Uchiha._

"Take care of things here," Madara told him. Snarling, "I won't have those cowards freely entering and exiting as they please."

Izuna gave a curt nod. "Understood."

...

It was only when Madara was a distance away, issuing sharp orders to his hunters and his sensors, that Izuna lifted his sandal away from the object burrowed into the dirt.

Bending down, Izuna picked up the cresent-shaped piece of metal, his Sharingan briefly scanning over its surface before his fist closed around it.

* * *

"There you are."

The white ball of fur positively jolted in surprise.

"Don't think you can get away," Loreli said with her arms crossed lightly over her chest.

She had it cornered, now.

"How will you explain this?" the young woman asked, holding up what might have once been a black, long-sleeved shirt. Madara's shirt.

She should have known better than to allow it the chance to slip through the door while she was moving her things in. Between its raid and her willful destruction of the Uchiha clan's leader's property much earlier in time, there were hardly any clothes left for him to wear.

It peeped up at her with its large black eyes, as still as a stuffed toy.

"You should realize I am not going to give you food until I see you bearing the semblance of remose," Loreli said blandly.

Wetting its nose, it blinked up at her. She stared back at it.

"The women have been feeding you again, haven't they?" she asked dryly.

She reached for it. It scurried to the side. She missed.

"Come back here!" she tsked as it scampered away. It wasn't exactly the fastest of creatures, but when it decided to run, it just doesn't stop running.

...Ahh, she gave up. That little monster was going to grow into quite the troublemaker if the women couldn't resist pampering it.

"The merchants' deliveries have arrived today, have they not?" Loreli asked Uchiha Murata, who had followed her a short distance away the entire time but didn't lift a finger to assist her. His sharp, expressionless gaze turned to her, and only the slight inclination of his head answered her question.

Well then, perhaps she could claim some of the fabrics they were bringing in. No one would object if they cared for their clan leader's image.

Sighing, Loreli headed outside. She needed something to do, anyway, since evidently the women of the Center Complex have decided that all physical labour was now off-limits to her.

It had been four days since the war party had left. If it were not for Madara's indisputable order for her to remain within the stronghold, and the fact that there were members of his council who could override her authority staying behind... Loreli pursed her lips.

She hadn't been able to question the men from the castle. How unfortunate.

"They have been checked," the middle-aged shinobi with a cross-scar over one eye was saying when she approached. She recognized him as Uchiha Kakuzen, a member of Madara's council and the most experienced strategist in the Uchiha clan. It looked like he was the one supervising the storing and distribution of resources this time.

"Very well," the familiar, cool voice replied. "We will take it from here."

It was the head medic Ingra and his assistants. They were here retrieving their medicinal herbs and supplies.

"My lady," Kakuzen addressed her upon noticing her first. "Is there something you need?"

He was polite and respectful as far as appearances went. She knew he had never acknowledged her as one of the clan, much less his equal.

...It wasn't particularly distressing. It wasn't treatment she wasn't unaccustomed to. But, while she had regarded it as Madara's problem to deal with for he made her Clan Mistress, now...now it was her problem as well, wasn't it?

And suddenly, she grew very weary.

She turned her attention to Kakuzen. "Cloth," she said. "The kind used to make attire that shinobi wear."

"Fourth crate," he told her. "The materials for black dye arrive with next delivery."

The scent of wood and sawdust was everywhere as she weaved through the other workers, searching for the one he named. Cheap wood was used for the crates, owing to the scarcity of forests in the Fire Country, and gave her splinters if she wasn't careful. She had discovered, however, that it made excellent kindling when she couldn't get one of the Uchiha shinobi to light her a fire.

Or...looking at it from another angle. It could be used to construct a much-needed cage for her wayward pet, she thought wryly.

"...Ah." Loreli peered inside the crate to see the rolls of pure white cloth. "The dyes have run out?"

"There's been a shortage ever since we lost our previous supplier," Kakuzen replied. "A merchant who delivers to ninja clans has not safe profession."

She stretched out some of the white fabric. It would be harder, but she could still dye the clothes after they're made. The question was, would there be enough time before Madara returned if she were to wait?

"Iron," she said. "Metal scraps. It is not as sanitary, but, would there be any of those?" Loreli asked.

Asking the leader of the Uchiha clan to wear white was out of the question. Only medics wore white in the Uchiha clan, symbolizing them as misfits who have failed to awaken the Sharingan. With the exception of Izuna, of course, who wore white despite the fact that he was a warrior of the highest grade. Surely there was a reason behind that.

And it had to be a good reason, too. She'd seen how the medics were regarded. They were a target of scorn and discrimination by the Uchiha warriors famed for their fearsome eye techniques. Yet...at the same time they were the _only_ medics in the clan, which meant the warriors depended on them should they get injured.

It was a fragile balance pervaded by hatred, distrust, and tension.

"Bring the mistress the extracts from the top shelf; the storage room by the granary. A fine black can be made with ease." Ingra's voice caused her to glance over her shoulder at his straight, regal back. A white-shirted assistant at his side bowed and hurried off to his command.

She was going to speak her thanks, but he had finished up here and was about to leave with his medics.

A moment's hesitation.

"Head Medic."

He glanced back, the others with him also pausing at her words.

Loreli met his ice-blue eyes. "I ask you to keep a secret."

There was no use trying to catch him alone: Murata followed her like a shadow ever since Madara put her under strict guard.

Aware that there were plenty of bystander eyes watching, Loreli added, "That time I asked you to teach me to be a medic." She said, "I don't wish for them to find out."

The meaning behind those words, she was certain he knew.

"You need not fear, my lady," the head medic's cool, refined voice answered her. He turned to leave. "I have no interest in clan politics. My job is to heal."

Truly? Loreli blinked at his retreating back. That...was a relief. Though, it hadn't come as a surprise.

They were in the same position after all.

"My lady." She paused at the sound of Kakuzen's wary, disapproving tone.

She looked back, half expecting him to tell her to avoid associating with Uchiha Ingra as Izuna once had.

"The merchants have left things for you in the other room. You should see to them."

The merchants did? Loreli thought, intrigued. Why would they?

"Murata," she heard Kakuzen call to her guard as she made her way to the side room. She glanced to see them having a private exchange of words while she stepped away.

...

A small stack of furniture and other odds and ends greeted her from the corner of the smaller shed. She recognized them instantly.

Oh! These were the item she had purchased that day Madara had taken her to the trade town. She traced the smooth surface of the small drawer table with one finger. Ha...since when did Madara tell them to have these delivered? Or, perhaps the merchants had gotten these delivered of their own accord, out of respect and fear?

Either way, this was good, Loreli thought as she checked the drawers individually. She would have somewhere to store her-...

Her fingers have frozen, still gripping the handle of the bottom-most drawer.

...

Slowly, she reached inside the drawer, delicately picking up the small, flat object between her fingers.

It was cool, made of metal. Its edges lined with tooth-like projections, its body shaped like a cresent moon.

It had not been among the list of items she had purchased that day.

And certainly. wasn't something that should have belonged there. How could this-

Sound from the other room woke her from her stupor. Hesitating only a moment, Loreli slipped the piece of metal into the sash at her waist.

"Is something the matter, my lady?" Murata's voice asked of her from the doorway.

...

"Nothing," she said, regaining her composure. "Just a sense of..."

_"...nostalgia."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Don't you hate informative chapters? I .hate. informative chapters. You have no idea how long I spent slicing and dicing what I originally wrote until it became this short. Haha. That's er, my excuse of updating such a short chapter!

But hopefully there will be at least some readers out there who can appreciate the little hints I've left for you for later.


	33. Hopeless Mine IV

**A/N: **And I gib to u...the shortest chapter ever written...

Because I know how you feel about these types of chapters.

Yep.

-twiddles thumbs-

* * *

**Till You Die **

31 - _Hopeless Mine IV_

* * *

Day eleven since they have signed the contract for this job. Midnight.

Distant booms resounded in the air, like echoes of rhythmical thunder.

By now, the Uchiha army had engaged with the feudal lord's men at the eastern and western fronts at the riverbanks.

He knew of the power of the Sharingan. They all have. The clan of Uchiha had its fame spread far beyond the borders of Fire Country.

Deadly. Bloodthirsty. Undefeated.

Meeting the Uchiha army head-on would be a pointless skirmish. Their own army didn't even have their leader with them. Nonetheless, this was a crucial job in which its success would secure their re-entrance to the Fire Country's battlegrounds.

"Listen up, men!"

The army of shinobi awaiting his command snapped to attention.

"Our timing will be critical! The Uchiha are no doubt aware that their enemy lord's cowardice prompts him to flee his castle as soon as he learns that one of his main defenses have fallen!"

The feudal lord has three hill castles, situated on the map at the three corners of a triangle, with the main castle in which the lord resides in at the back. The defensive terrain the castles were built upon made it so that it was nearly impossible to invade the main castle without taking out at least one of the guard castles in front and peripheral to the main castle. However, this terrain subsequently made it nearly impossible for the lord to avoid being quickly surrounded once both his guard castles were gone.

"Our leader negotiated for the lord to send out his private army as reinforcement to the guard castles! We have the element of surprise in this war, but it can only be used once!"

It was unprecedented for a lord to sacrifice his own men before the lives of ninja mercenaries. The Uchiha army, to whom they have not made themselves known at the present, will have to suspect there had been no shinobi clan hired against them. This was a greater advantage than it would seem, seeing that the Uchiha army was already divided into the eastern and western divisions.

"The bulk of our army will head to the eastern front, where our numbers will overwhelm their troops. The small division remaining will engage the other half of the Uchiha army at the western front." Where they will delay the western army from reaching the main castle.

A war without sacrifices was not possible; and winner takes all.

"We have been chosen to pave our clan's way to victory! If you shall fall in battle, know that your sacrifice was not in vain!"

Timing was critical. They were prepared to sacrifice the western hill castle, but what matters most is that the confusion will slow the advances of the Uchiha army. They could not oppose the orders of the feudal lord if he chooses to flee, and likely right into a preemptive trap laid by the Uchiha army.

But, things should not come to that.

Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna was not with either division of their army. The most strategically advantageous position for them to be in was somewhere in the middle, where they can easily oversee and reinforce either side. Once the brothers learn of the situation, they would be drawn to the eastern front, where the bulk of their enemy would have ambushed their men.

Voice rising, the general thrust his weapon toward the dark sky.

"Remember our purpose, men! No matter how powerful the enemy we face," he declared.

_"We must hold back the Uchiha army_ for Tobirama-sama!"

Before him, the army of Senju warriors shouted their agreement.

...

* * *

Eleventh day since the signing of the contract. Four hours before dawn.

The western castle fell.

It went down with a loud crackling of splintering wood and flaming roofs that could be heard all the way at the eastern front. At least to ninja ears.

_"Is this supposed to be a joke?"_

He_—it_—emerged onto the battlefield with the virile vitality of a predator. The man likened to a death god by the serfs of every village his army passed through.

Uchiha Madara. They finally meet him in person.

"Using self-destruct tactics on my western army," Madara remarked, quirking a long, arrogant eyebrow while giving his warriors time to regroup behind him. "But by now they have recovered, advancing towards the main castle while all that remains of your army is obstructed by me."

The great metal fan was lowered as the Uchiha clan's leader addressed them tauntingly, the edges and chain already stained with blood.

"And how. do you propose to protect your lord with your entire army shattered, _Senju?"_

...

It was true. The Senju army lay in ruins. He was but among a couple handful of survivors, though the Senju have greatly outnumbered the eastern Uchiha army in the beginning. Not to mention they had the advantage of making the first move.

The Uchiha brothers certainly lived up to their reputation as the ones who single-handedly brought the Uchiha clan to its knees.

He, too, was at his limit. But if it meant that they could buy their second-in-command more time...

"Where is your leader, Hashirama?" The leader of the enemy clan asked, his red eyes narrowing in demand. "Is he _a man _who would send an army on a suicide mission without showing his own face?" Madara sneered.

The Senju general coughed up a short laugh. "Your reputation as an arrogant commander precedes you."

"Our purpose here was not to win against you in battle," he revealed.

Uchiha Madara frowned darkly, and his brother, Izuna came up beside him.

"You are too late," the Senju stated.

"Madara-sama, Izuna-sama!"

The Uchiha messenger rushed through between the two armies. He fell to one knee before his clan leader.

"Lord Kiyano who hired us for this job," the messenger gritted out, "has ordered our retreat. We are to pull out our armies immediately!"

_"What!"_

A chuckle from the Senju general. "The Uchiha were always confident in their offense, they've neglected their defense. This time is our win, _Uchiha."_

"Your purpose was to delay our offense while you force our patron to resign, then," the one named Izuna said.

"Wrong," the Senju announced, standing up. What remained of his forces gathered around him.

"We knew that the Uchiha will be ordered to pull out from the battlefield given the right time. Our sole purpose here," he said, "is to take down as many Uchiha warriors as possible before that time comes."

"To pave the way for the rest of the Senju clan."

A gloved hand was held up. Uchiha Madara signaled to his warriors.

"It's unfortunate you won't be taking my reply back to Hashirama," the leader of the Uchiha clan cruelly remarked.

"Going against orders?" Izuna questioned his elder brother. An immediate retreat meant to leave off all fighting at once. "That's a high crime, Madara."

"Heh." But the man who was the leader of the Uchiha clan wore a twisted, cruel smirk on his dark lips and announced, "Not if there are no witnesses left behind."

* * *

"What's the status?" Madara asked curtly.

"The western army suffered great casualty, Madara-sama. Do you want me to inform them to continue their advance?"

"No."

It was Izuna who spoke, coming to Madara's side.

"Have them regroup and join me in going to Lord Kiyano's castle. Madara," he forestalled his elder brother's words.

"You best return to the clan."

Izuna's intelligent eyes were dark and serious.

"I have reason to believe that the stronghold needs your presence."

"Speak clearly, Izuna," Madara told him sternly.

Two words fell from Izuna's lips, freezing him.

"Your wife."

* * *

They came under the blanket of night, igniting screams and a rhapsody of blades.

She had woken to a sound like earthquake, pieces of wood chipping off from the ceiling of the room.

What in the...was the stronghold under siege?

"My lady!" The door burst open. "Enemies—"

Loreli stifled a gasp the sound of blood splashed onto the wooden floor.

She backed up against the headboard as footfalls were heard entering the room.

"How..." she whispered numbly "did you get in..."

"If it were me," a cold, masculine voice replied. "It should be easy."

A hand shot out to her through the darkness, grasping her arm where it hurt; sending a shock to where her once-broken bone was.

The cold, sinister voice spoke into her ear, _"Right?"_

She woke in a cold sweat.

...Not again.

...

Shivering, Loreli looked down to discover that she had tossed the blankets away from her again in sleep.

She swung her legs off the edge of the bed and got up.

It was that thing. That cursed thing.

Reaching beneath her pillow, she pulled out the flat, crescent-shaped piece of metal and looked at it.

She hadn't gotten one decent night's rest after this thing had found itself in her possession. Always these types of nightmares.

It shouldn't be possible...right?

The Sorairo clan had not the strength to lay siege to the might of the Uchiha clan.

Not unless they have support from a ninja clan with strength to rival the Uchiha.

...

Sighing, Loreli slipped the object back into its hiding spot underneath her pillow.

She'd have to bear with it for now. Madara and his army should be due back in a few more days. Maybe then she could get the answers to the questions that have been gnawing away at the back of her mind.

...

Reluctantly, Loreli laid back down on the bed that was too large for one petite woman her size.

It was really quiet this time of night.

Eerily quiet.

She thought of him, of his angry expressions and stiff motions. In the silence she heard his harsh, abrupt voice.

There was no better method of getting her to think of something than to get her to try to do the opposite. Hmph.

In the hallway she though she might have heard movement, but she passed it off as the patrolling guards making their rounds.

Her eyelids drooped wearily as a breeze entered the room, but she didn't notice.

It was a dream. A dream. It was all a dream.

That was what she told herself as she drifted back into the realm of sleep.

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Alright, alright; I have not found a chance to do so in the actual chapter, so before I get flamed by any review going "what, what what what WHAT?" I'll explain something right here.

The shinobi clans, at least in _my_ story, don't take all their warriors to war at one time. It would be inconvenient for a large army to travel great distances and to do the stealth thing(also they need defense at home), so they would take whoever they think will do best against their opponents. So in this chapter when I say some entire army has been destroyed...it doesn't mean their entire clan is destroyed, far from it.


	34. Mistress of the Clan I

**A/N: **;w; does this mean I don't get to hear any speculations anymore? I welcome pm'ed speculations?

**XSweetXSourXSoulX: **hah. glad to see a reviewer with a sense of humour.

**1angel2heart:** Thank you, I suppose that means the admin read my email. You have been a great help :)

**Kiku Yasai:** The speed this fanfic is updated can range from once a week to once every few months. It doesn't mean I lost inspiration...I just got stuck somewhere. It takes people less than 15 minutes to read what I waste hours and hours of rephrasing single lines to write. I'm really, really picky about wording and the places the words go in a sentence—part of what I call a "manga in written form" xD.

* * *

**Till You Die**

32 - _Mistress of the Clan I_

* * *

She didn't know what woke her up. A sound? A movement?

A presence in the darkness before her.

It _moved._

She gasped in startlement, quickly drawing away to the edge of the bed.

A dark, cold voice spoke to her.

"Is that any way to greet your husband?"

...

Her eyes widened, surprised. "...Madara..._Madara?"_

A pair of glowing red eyes stared back through the dark.

"You're not supposed to be back yet," Loreli said in confusion, her hands searching the table for the lamp. It was still dark. What time was it, exactly?

She finally found it, lighting it just as the mattress dipped and his arms slipped around her waist from behind.

"I wanted to see you." His breath was hot on her skin.

She paused.

The lamplight illuminated his unruly ebony mane and his dark lashes when she turned her head to glance at him.

"Now that you've seen me..." she said with some difficulty.

"You would chase me out of my own quarters?" Madara asked her in mock surprise.

Her lips pursed lightly. "Well..."

The grip on her midsection shifted, and she found herself lying on her back, beneath him.

...

He was chuckling into her hair, probably pleased with the finding that she had moved back to his quarters while he was away.

And that reminded her... She saw the dirty and torn collar of his shirt. She smelled the scent of blood he wore like a putrid perfume. She felt the edges where he still had his weapons on him.

Loreli said testily, "I am not sharing a bed with a man who still has death on him."

* * *

...Uchiha Madara watched her with a deceptively lax posture, head slanted to one side as he leaned back, his arms propped up on the rim of the wooden tub.

She had just returned to his quarters, wading through the haze that had built up in the bathroom since she had left to fetch more water.

"Already?" she asked, hanging the buckets over the fire to heat. She took note of the fact that he had stopped washing and was merely sitting here, observing her.

"What?" he drawled arrogantly. "You don't plan on giving me a thorough inspection?" Madara tauntingly remarked.

She paused, briefly darting a glance through the hazy mirror. She then turned and approached the bathtub, hesitating only a moment before she reached him.

"Hair, too," the young woman said, pouring ointment into the palm of her hand.

She touched him, her fingers lightly massaging into his scalp.

...

He had wanted to see her. He had taken his brother's warning to heart and had taken only a small portion of his men, traveling nonstop until they arrived back at the stronghold.

Imagine his surprise after striding straight to her room and finding it empty, only to be told afterwards that the clan mistress had already moved back to his quarters.

And there he had found her, sleeping undisturbed on the bed.

She didn't know it: Uchiha Madara had been observing her for a while before she woke. With the fierce possessiveness of a man who desired to keep his woman safe from all that might harm her.

She brushed his long ebony bangs away from his eyes and caught his stare. The weight of his heavy-lidded gaze caused her to avert her eyes.

The question was: would she accept him?

It was true that she had moved back to his quarters. It must also be true that she was aware of the implications of her decision. However.

He wanted to hold her more than he was able to admit without triggering her automatic escape response. But she. Not only had she refused him unblinkingly earlier, the closest she had come was to pick up his discarded battle attire and to throw it into the fire.

Though touching him was an improvement. He reached up, snatching her hand as she was in the process of working out every single knot in his unruly black mane.

It was not enough.

She yelped, her deep brown eyes shooting up in surprise as he pulled her toward him, and she nearly toppled in.

...He only looked back her with a faint, seductive smirk hinting at the corner of his lips. His expression remained lazy, unchanging.

"Come inside and join me," he offered with an arrogant arch of his brows. "I will let you play with my hair as much as you want."

...She didn't scoff as she normally would.

...In fact, she was distracted by the way his thumb was massaging over her pulse.

A snapping sound startled her. She looked quickly to find that the fire was dying out. Now there was only the sound of her own breathing, and the quiet lapping of water, amidst the thick tension surrounding them.

"...You are injured," she suddenly discovered, stretching his arm out to look at it closely.

It was a gash on his forearm, from when he was fighting the Senju.

"This needs to be treated," she said, making it a point not to meet his eyes.

...Ah. He knew what she was doing.

"Only a flesh wound," Madara remonstrated, certain that she felt his intent but was unable to take his eyes off her. "Doesn't even hurt," he claimed lightly, arrogantly. A lie, but it hardly mattered to him.

"Oh?' she answered coolly. Her pretty eyes flickered up at him. "...It doesn't, Madara-sama?" she asked.

And squeezed his arm as hard as she could.

_Shi—!_

She had that tiny, knowing smile in her eyes when he glowered murderously at her.

And just like that, he'd handed the power back to her.

Damn.

She got up, and a moment later came back into the bathroom with a case of medical supplies.

"Where did you get trained to mend injuries?" Madara asked with a puzzled frown, watching her as she took out the bottles.

"I didn't." She stared at each of the labels in turn. "Women were considered unsuitable to become physicians at the castle."

Madara arched an long, thin eyebrow as she popped one of the lids open.

So that meant...she was going to perform operation on him without any prior experience?

"Unless you would like me to summon a medic," she said as though seeing through his thoughts. "I wouldn't mind," she added.

_God damn—_

"Do what you want!" Madara snarled.

Tsch. What the hell was this?

She didn't return any of his devotion at all.

The woman positioned herself over his arm. His eyes widened in surprise as pain seared across his skin.

"What are you doing?" Madara demanded with a frown.

She blinked at him, spitting the blood into a towel. "Hm?" she responded quizzically before pouring more antiseptic into her mouth. "Doesn't it hurt less this way?"

He wasn't even thinking about the pain.

Just the way her lips was closing around his skin, her hot tongue darting lightly against his wound.

He raked his free hand through his bangs and groaned.

"...What?" she asked, surprised. "Did I do it wrong?" And that was as far as she went, because the next instant he reached out—and kissed her abruptly.

He had taken her by surprise, but she didn't push him away. He kissed her fervently, tasting his own blood on her lips; one hand slipping inside her yukata to feel her soft, sensitive skin.

She was quivering.

He pulled away, allowing her the chance to gasp for air.

"This is my only warning," Madara told her with a mocking twitch of his head, brushing her lips with his thumb. "I am this close to shoving you against the wall and fucking you senseless." He eyed her reaction through heavy, drooping eyelids. Lightly, seductively, he warned her, "Don't do anything that will make my patience snap."

...

He saw her shakily avert her eyes, appearing stunned. And yet at the same time a soft blush adorned her cheeks. _'What? What kind of action?' _he could just hear her ask herself, a bewildered frown on her brow as she struggled to thread her needle, _'What kind of action?'_

She probably made more stitches than were needed, due to her mistakes. He stared down at her handiwork when she stood to put things away. Not even he could have done a crude job like this.

Her slender arms slipped around his shoulders, her soft body pressing into his back. He was surprised by this.

"...I can tell by your lack of boasting that your campaign hadn't gone well," she said coolly. Madara was silent.

...She leaned forward and cryptically asked in his ear, _"Do you want my assistance?"_

"What?" Madara demanded incredulously.

"...Allow me to leave the stronghold," she requested.

_"Absolutely not!" _Madara bellowed.

"Why?" she asked, as though it were the most innocent question in the world.

_"Why?"_ he repeated in disbelief. His temper flared at the thought of her putting herself into the very danger he strove to protect her from. "I am your damn husband! You will obey me in this regardless if I answer you or not!"

She pursed her lips and withdrew her arms, unhappy.

Ah. Gotten on her bad side again, had he?

"If you had clung to me and asked another way," Madara remarked in an arrogant drawl, arching his long, mocking eyebrows, "I might have been more agreeable."

...She wetted her lips, stiffening at his vindictive remark.

Then, to his surprise, she embraced his neck sweetly and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Please..." she whispered softly "my husband."

Looked like he brought this upon himself. Madara inclined his head on the back of one hand. "Tell me," he commanded. "Did you think of me while I was gone?"

...

Her eyelids lowered, revealing long, curled lashes. "Yes..." she said. She looked up and told him hesitantly, "...More than I could get you to believe..."

He held her eyes, until her gaze lowered to his perfectly sculpted, irresistibly alluring lips. She leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to his, before parting them and kissing him longingly.

It is sublime.

Her arms tightened around him. His hands sensually kneaded her spine.

When at last she drew away to look at him in question, a dark chuckle rumbled his chest.

"Not bad," remarked Madara, arm still encircling her waist. "But the answer is still 'no'."

She stared back at him mutely.

His hand tracing her jaw. "I won't allow you anywhere my eyes won't reach," Madara told her softly, sinisterly.

...A faint blush adorned her cheeks, but she pulled herself away in a huff.

Her yukata had gotten wet by being pressed against him, and she was drying her hair off with a towel when she heard him rise up from his bath, the water draining off his naked form.

She froze in her movements, watching him warily from the corner of her eye as he stepped out of the bathtub.

Droplets of water drummed atop the floorboards.

Her slim shoulders rose and fell rapidly. She tried to keep her composure as long as she could, but.

The moment right before he was behind her, the towel slipped from her hands.

She turned, her eyes wide and her rosy lips parted in surprise as his lithe, muscled form towered over her.

But there was no room for her to back up. Yet he came forward.

She stepped back and came up against the shelf behind her.

He had her cornered completely; his expression intent, unreadable as he loomed ever closer.

Her pretty eyes never leaving him, she slid down to a sit, her back against the shelf.

He was sure she even stopped breathing when he reached out toward her, only to snatch up one of the dry towels sitting neatly folded on the shelve right behind her.

A seductive, knowing smirk on his lips, he left her sitting there as he made his way out of the bathroom, nonchalantly drying himself with the towel.

He went to his closet, sliding the doors open. "Where are all my clothes?" Madara demanded to know upon hearing her enter.

...She walked near the walls, as far from him as she could get. "...Well...they're-...you don't have any," she informed him.

Both of his long, arrogant brows arched up.

He tossed his towel aside.

She looked at him blankly as he reclined himself on the bed. Their bed. Every inch of his powerful physique for her eyes only.

She averted her gaze quickly.

Smoothly. "The floor is cold, my dear," Madara drawled tauntingly.

...

"...Your point?" she calmly asked over her shoulder, her body facing away from him.

"You're not coming to bed?" Madara asked with a mocking twitch of his head, his damp hair rustling.

She gave him a sidelong glance, taking in the light, triumphant smirk adorning his dark lips.

Her expression neutral, she tugged loose the strings tying her yukata together.

Abruptly. "What are you doing?" Madara asked with a suspicious frown.

The yukata slid from her smooth, delicate shoulders.

"It's wet," she answered coolly.

The fabric fell to the floor.

...

If the atmosphere had been tense enough to touch earlier, it was now tense enough to choke upon.

By the gods, she was beautiful.

"Toss me something dry," she requested of him without a backwards glance.

Seeing her drawer right next to him, he did.

She stared down at the offending piece of magenta fabric in her hand.

"Toss me something..._decent."_

"I don't see how it matters at this point," Madara drawled, sauntering to her side. Nonetheless, she snatched the yutaka from his hands.

It was a oversized sleeping yukata, pure white. Ignoring his proximity, she shrugged it on.

"Get me another one," she said.

Both Madara's eyebrows arched up incredulously. What was she playing a_t__—?_

That thought got cut off abruptly.

Because she had seated herself, one leg crossed over the other, atop the surface of the desk behind her, one hand lifting the hem of her yukata and revealing the pure, sinfully enticing skin of one leg.

"It is too long," she innocently said.

He didn't know what to think. No, he _didn't _think. The next thing he knew, he was directly in front of her, his hands gripping the table edge hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

She peered at him through her lashes, meeting his intense, smothering gaze.

"Don't you have more important matters to attend to, Madara-sama?" she lightly asked. "Instead of seducing your innocent wife?"

Seducing? Madara thought with an arched eyebrow. An arrogant smirk touched his lips. Is that what she wanted?

She didn't move when he went down before her and took her heel, his exotic, devouring eyes never leaving her face.

He pressed his warm, luscious lips against her ankle. Then the front of her small, slender foot. Then the inside of her smooth calf.

Her breathing grew shallow as he kissed the inside of her knee. He rose, loosening the yukata from her waist in one fluid motion.

And then his mouth was on hers, claiming her gasps and protests before she had any second thoughts.

Her bare skin was hot beneath his hands. He slid his hands up to cup and tease her soft, shapely mounds, finding them sensitive.

Her arms went around his neck. He lifted her effortlessly, carrying her to to the bed.

She shuddered as his hard abs rubbed across her flat, supple stomach. He mercilessly drew his lips over her neck, caressing her tender skin. Her fluttering breath fanned the profound desire searing through him.

_"...Madara..."_ she whispered, her voice soft and breathless.

He shifted his weight to look down at her, at the look of shy surrender on her delicate features.

His hand reached downwards, gently massaging her thighs. Her legs closed around him instinctively, but he lowered his head next to her, his ebony spikes brushing her shoulder, and told her, _"Spread your legs for me."_ Madara promised smoothly, "I will make you feel good."

She swallowed thickly. grasping his broad shoulders. She hesitated...or was it because she didn't know how to carry on from there?

Those pretty eyes of hers looked up at him expectantly as he lowered his weight against her, parting her legs naturally.

"Ma-..."

He rolled his thumbs against her twin peaks, distracting her and invoking a gasp.

His hands slid down to her small waist, firmly holding her in place as he slowly brought himself to her entrance.

She tensed ever so slightly, though he didn't know if it was from fear or anticipation.

But she was with no doubt ready for him. Her gentle gaze was glazed over with want, coupled with the proof of her arousal felt against him.

"Madara," she choked, feeling him as surely as he felt her. He moved, pressing further against her exquisite heat. She gasped.

But at the last possible moment, she flung her delicate arms around him, and whispered into his ear. _"Please,"_ she said, _"be gentle."_

Both long, arrogant eyebrows arched up.

...

She _had to be_ tormenting him on purpose.

Lust. Pride. Greed. Possessiveness. While forcefully crushing down all his instincts which would have her scream his name, Uchiha Madara hid a wry smirk and shifted his position from her.

"...What are you—?"

She inhaled sharply as his tongue touched her _there._

"Ma-...Madara!" she protested in horror, fingers clutching into his thick black mane. "Madara!"

But he wasn't about to go easy on her simply because she knew how to call his name sweetly.

His muscle delved into her warm depths, tasting her feverish arousal. Her knees twitched, and her velvet folds constricted against his hot, swirling tongue, but they were helpless against his firm hold keeping them apart.

It was slow, sensual torture. Inescapable torture. "Madara-" she choked, her back arching; trembling uncontrollably. "Please..."

He looked up at her with a small, dark velvety chuckle, an arrogant smirk quirking flirtatiously on the edge of his lips.

"Please what?"

"I-" She broke up with a small yelp as he leaned forward and nipped the tip of one aching breast, the other one at the mercy of his skilled palm.

"Please, Madara," she begged him softly, unwittingly squirming from side to side but unable to get away. She finally stilled and, with her pretty, beseeching eyes, looked at him submissively.

"...Comfort me," she said.

He didn't need to hear it twice.

His mouth slashed down, his tongue entangling hers in a fiery dance of passion. His patience was at its end, and the lack thereof manifested in the way he readily parted her thighs and entered her abruptly.

"Ah!" she gasped, desperately clinging to his neck. "Ah!" He buried deeper inside her, claiming the exquisite heat that had long been denied him. She whimpered softly. "Nn..."

Inhaling sharply, her muscles tensed and she arched up, her walls clenching around him magnificently.

"What?" Madara panted smugly, sweat glistening on his well-toned muscles. He reached out and roguishly squeezed one swollen breast. "You came already?"

She blushed, her lips a beautiful, rosy red. Breathtaking. She was positively glowing.

Slowly at first, he began to move again, grinding out a rhythm that would not be too harsh on her resting young body.

Her knees gently hugged his sides, her gentle hands stroking his spine encouragingly.

He grunted, unable to keep himself from picking up his tempo at the sound of her delicious little gasps.

"Madara," she breathed. "Mad-"

Her entire body shook, her nails digging into his back, heating his skin to the point of combustion.

His thrusts lengthened, filling her completely. The raw pleasure was building, swirling ever higher, nearing the pinnacle.

She cried out, the sound sending him toward the edge.

White light engulfed his vision, blanking his mind to pure bliss as everything else faded from him.

It was indescriptable, awe-inspiring rapture.

He came to, panting heavily atop his delicate woman. He rolled off her to spare her his weight, dragging her to him with an arm draped around her waist.

One arm folded beneath his chest, Madara lazily watched her lovely, flushed visage, the sweat beading his lashes. The barest trace of a smug smirk formed on his reddened lips.

"Was it good for you?" he asked with a slight arrogant slant of his head, looking down at her; his free hand rubbing her side.

She stared contently up at him for a long moment before replying, "Yes..."

That had pleased him immensely, though one couldn't tell.

She looked at him questioningly when he got up from the bed.

"You're right," Madara answered, looking back down at her sideways. "There are matters I should attend to as soon as I'm able." Important matters that would require his presence to look into. "Where are my clothes?"

...

Hesitating briefly, the young woman turned onto her other side, drawing the blankets drowsily over her.

"...I wasn't lying about your clothes."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

**Dragon Jadefire:** FFFFFFFF. I lost the game =w= Grrr...if you really want me to spoil it for you...send me a pm for my disclaimer!

My thanks to my partner in crime, Maru-sama, for proofreading! She catches all the typos and missing words I somehow never find out...


	35. Mistress of the Clan II

**A/N: **I am the late updater.

**silver-nightstorm:** I can't tell you what that crescent shaped thing is/was, yet *-* (lulz I forgot to answer this question in the last chapter, forgive me OTL)

* * *

**Till You Die**

33 - _Mistress of the Clan II_

* * *

"Does it fit?"

"No," he told her for the third time. "Too tight."

"Just yank it over your head," she replied, unrelenting.

Madara gritted back a scowl. He might as well humour her.

Gathering the black fabric at his shoulders, the tall, long ebony-haired shinobi forced the shirt over his head, yanking it down over his body.

He wasn't one to complain about minor discomforts, but.

This was utterly _ridiculous._

Stepping closer. "What," she noted in disbelief, her fingertips on his steel abdomen. "It is too tight."

He fought to contain the flame her sinfully innocuous touches stroked within him.

"That's what I've been telling you," Madara said in a hoarse voice, keeping still for her.

"...How can this be?" she asked in confusion. "They told me-..."

That's where she trailed off and suddenly realized the extremely awkward situation she was faced with.

"Nevermind," she told him stiffly, biting her cheek against a faint blush. "Take it off."

He quirked a long arrogant eyebrow, hooking a finger where the neck of the long-sleeved shirt was too tight.

"Tell that to me," Madara suggested in a light, smooth drawl, _"stricter."_

"Choke in it, then," she told him tonelessly.

He hissed in, proceeding to peel the fabric away from his waist.

But, just to entice her a little bit, he executed the action at excruciatingly leisure pace.

"Aren't ninja supposed to be quick at freeing themselves from a bind?" she asked blandly.

...

He turned to her, hands encircling her waist.

"So now you're starting to regard my skills as somewhat useful," Madara observed with a smooth chuckle.

Lowering so he could say next to her ear, "Are you thinking of taking advantage of me?"

...She pursed her lips lightly.

"...How can I?" she asked. "You won't even allow me one step outside the gates."

Arching a long thin eyebrow. "This again?" Madara lightly remarked. "You already have my answer."

...She straightened as if to speak, but hesitance stayed her tongue.

The tall, long ebony-haired shinobi spoke decisively to her. "I will grant you many desires," Uchiha Madara assured her. "This is not one of them."

She answered.

"...I will slip out anyway, you might as well spare yourself the embarrassment."

Hold tightening.

_"You dare-..." _he began, but was interrupted by the brisk rapping on the door.

"Madara-sama," the voice on the other side informed him, "We are ready to set off."

He looked back at his brazen woman.

"Should I discover that you disobeyed my order to remain here in the stronghold," Madara warned her, lightly gripping her chin, "You're to expect no mercy from me even if you _are _my precious doll."

She gave no response, peering at him with her sweet eyes.

"Do you understand what I just said?" Madara sought confirmation from her.

"I understand..." she said gently "...Madara-sama."

* * *

...He ended up wearing Izuna's old clothes. She had been rather surprised to find that Izuna had black shirts in his possession.

As if sensing her gaze on him, the leader of the Uchiha clan turned and looked back up at the lookout post where she leaned over the railing, watching him give out final orders before departing with his army.

...Ah, but she had wasted effort tailoring clothes of the wrong size. Because some of the women decided to mess with her.

His attention was stolen from her by the shinobi who came up beside him, reporting. The army began moving through the stronghold gates.

...No meaningful farewell this time, it seemed.

He expected it would end quickly, did he?

Loreli inhaled slowly, glancing next to her to see a stoic and silent Murata gazing down at the departing Uchiha army.

She followed the direction of his gaze. "...Do you wish you had gone with them?" she asked conversationally.

Her shinobi guard glanced askance at her. She only gave a light, cryptic smile in return.

...

His precious doll, was she...?

She left the railing and glanced up idly at the sky.

"How skilled are you, relative to Izuna?" she asked Murata casually.

"It is useless asking me to help you escape, my lady," answered his voice from behind.

...

Loreli glanced quizzically over her shoulder. "...You thought I was going to ask you to assist me in that?"

A minuscule smile touched her lips.

She descended the stairs of the lookout post, pausing to watch the thin crowd of clanspeople who were returning to their respective homes.

"You were originally one of the group who opposed the brothers coming to power," she commented. "What made you loyal to Izuna?"

"That is of no import, my lady." His deadpanned tone left no room for further questioning.

...She gave a small, helpless shrug to herself. "...How boring."

A group of Uchiha shinobi filed past. Loreli stopped to let them cross before her, watching as the men approached the stronghold walls. Shouts were exchanged and what looked like a guard shift took place.

The last time she had tried to pass, Uchiha Shindara had given her no rein. She had no doubt that with Madara's orders, he wouldn't allow her to pass even with one of those passes.

With a soundless sigh, Loreli turned back to the Center Complex, leisurely strolling through the splendid entrance hall. There was no hurry, after all. She had time.

...As she came to the end of that hall, Loreli noted that the head medic's assistant was waiting outside the meeting room. He acknowledged her with a bow.

She halted before the heavy double doors, peering curiously at the open doorway.

There seemed to be sounds of an argument coming through, from one of the inner chambers.

She went inside.

_"Armf."_

The young woman looked down, surprised, to see that the small white cub had shuffle inside the room alongside her.

"...Where have you been the past few days?" Loreli asked blandly.

It sneezed and spat out a light, flat object that rang against the cold marble floor. The small cub licked its nose, large black eyes blinking up at her.

Ice.

As if death itself wrapped its icy fingers around her.

Heart pounding hard, Loreli reached for her waist, making certain that she hadn't been mistaken.

_"...Where..." _she whispered, picking up the crescent-shaped metal object from the floor _"...did you get this...?"_

Panting happily at her attention, the small cub ran up to the nearest seat cushion and dragged it to her feet, looking up at her expectantly. Then, seeing the unimpressed expression on her face, it scampered out of the meeting room, and one minute later returned with a half an eaten tomato.

Which it promptly dropped at her feet in tribute.

"No," Loreli said in resignation. "Forget I asked."

Breathing in slowly, the young woman carefully lifted out the other piece of metal from within the folds of her yukata.

Same shape, same weight, albeit different design; lining up perfectly one atop the other.

No, not the same, she discovered. One was thicker than the other, and when she looked at it from the side, there seemed to be a narrow slot in which the pointed tip of the other crescent could fit through.

...

She heard the way her heart raced as she fitted the two metal objects together. _Click._

_-TickTickTickTickTick-_

The outside rim of teeth-like projections changed as she further slid the two pieces together as one. It activated what looked to be a very intricately designed mechanism within, pushing out at the bottom what looked like the true other half of the circle.

For that was what it was...a perfect, circular plate with a hole in the center and patterned edges. She held it up to the light. The characters inscribed on the surface of the ring read-...

_Pearl of Eternity Lie In Dragon Teeth_

Loreli inhaled, having forgotten to breathe. She slipped the object into her yukata.

Men and women moved purposefully through the entrance hall of the Center Complex, entering and leaving. Guards stood on high alert on either end, watching all who passed.

Hesitantly. "...Did someone come by while I was in here?" she asked Uchiha Ingra's assistant by the door.

He looked surprised by her question. "While you were inside, my lady? You just went in a moment ago."

She watched the hall for a moment longer.

"It's nothing, then," said Loreli. "...Forget I asked."

She went back into the meeting room, briefly watching the small cub make long work of its rejected tomato.

The pearl of immortality which lies between a dragon's teeth. She couldn't be mistaken.

Could she?

_Slam._

"These were the exact words from our leader's mouth, Head Medic," Kakuzen's rigid voice traveled to her from the inner chamber. "Obtain the map of the Sorairo Valley from the royal archives of the Shujinchi Castle by any means necessary." His tone was level, commanding. She approached quietly. "Unless there is hidden reason why you are opposed to his order?"

"The plan will fail, General," Ingra's voice coolly replied back. She saw him not, but pictured his indifferent mask. "For decades the Shujinchi Castle has only permitted medics through its gates. You expect me to train a warrior in the nick of time: You ask for the impossible, General. The medics will recognize killing intent the instant they pass."

It has been a long argument. The two had likely remained behind to debate thoroughly while the rest of the assembly had been dismissed.

"Then give me one of yours," Kakuzen requested. "It is no mission of skill nor assassination. Even your medics should have had enough training that is required."

"Warrior or not, there will be medics skilled enough to identify them as Uchiha," Ingra stated, adamant in his view. "Lest you've forgotten: My healers have never once stepped outside these walls. I'll not let you blame the failure of the mission on us medics."

...The atmosphere...Loreli observed. Tense...

"What is your suggestion?" When Kakuzen's voice spoke again, it was cold and sinister. "You and I both know that for you to go is out of the question."

...

"...Then...what about me?"

Both men turned to see her enter.

"...Why don't _I," _she asked, placing one hand over her chest, "retrieve that map for you...?"

...She had to give it to them: if they have found her suggestion sudden and unexpected, none of their thoughts appeared on their face.

"My lady," Kakuzen responded, all traces of scorn he had been speaking with gone as he addressed her. "You are aware that Madara-sama tightened security on the Center Complex for your protection," he stated as a question.

"Had he?" Loreli asked placidly. "This is news to me, General. What, then," she drawled lightly, "exactly is he protecting me from...? ...Will you tell me?"

Though she said it like that...she was curious. What kind of evidence did these men possess, of which they were unwilling to share with her?

Kakuzen replied simply. "It is his explicit order for you to remain here where it is safe."

"Madara-sama..." she airily said "...doesn't have to know."

The readiness of her bold proposal took him off guard. Perhaps surprised the both of them. She couldn't tell.

Kakuzen watched her with his expression schooled.

"And if he thought I were truly still in danger, would he have left straight after?" she asked.

"...I will be back before he returns...or ever learns of my leaving," Loreli coolly said.

His expression remained unflinching. "You are asking me to-"

"No..." she interjected. "I am _commanding _you to see it done. This is my first order as the clan mistress. I'll not sit back and wait while the enemy roams free."

A tense, charged pause rolled between them.

"It's your order against Madara-sama's," Kakuzen said intently.

This air...was bad.

Loreli returned his daunting stare.

What he was truly saying. She understood perfectly.

_Why should I obey you; You, who have not earned your place in clan politics?_

...She was but a simple girl who had wormed her way into his leader's heart; with plenty of skills to showcase, but none that had been put to good use. If it hadn't been for Madara, he wouldn't be giving her the time of day. If it weren't for Madara-

"Then..." Loreli said lightly, "perhaps Madara-sama should have clearly defined the limitations of my power."

"From how I understand it," she asserted calmly, "the mistress of the clan commands authority while the master is away. _And the master is away, now."_

That there. He couldn't refute that as simply as he would've liked.

"I will interrupt, my lady."

Her gaze went to the head medic, Uchiha Ingra.

"You have no previous experience in healing nor medicine," he stated. "A simple test will reveal you as a fake."

"...Oh?" she responded. "Training I may not have...though that doesn't mean I haven't read, Ingra-san."

He did not appear impressed. "Should you be discovered," the regal man replied in stern warning, "Not only will you be tortured to name a nonexistent employer, your warmonger husband-"

"Will never find out," Loreli calmly interrupted. Both men looked at her with their impeccable masks. She gave way to a small, knowing smile.

"I simply will not get caught."

...Kakuzen was shaking his head.

"You are being offered a choice," she commented. "Do you wish to take this threat more seriously than your leader?"

His expression darkened.

"Do not make assumptions, dear lady," Kakuzen told her severely.

"Your lord husband has taken measures against the Sorairo, be you aware of them or not. It will do you well to place more trust in him."

She closed her eyes briefly.

Holding up three fingers. "Three days," said Loreli. "Get me into Shujinchi Castle, and I will get you the map within three days. If you have any reservation, Murata will be with me: He, if not I, would certainly accomplish what needs to be done."

"...But only I," she said, "can get him in."

She was the only one among them...who had not a single drop of Uchiha blood in her. She would not be barred at the castle gates.

These two standing before her were shrewd and talented men. They could acknowledge the truth of the matter when they were presented with it.

"You risk much in the interest of the clan, my lady." Kakuzen spoke coolly. He asked her, "What do you have to gain from this endeavor?"

It was momentary, but her eyes strayed to the side of the Uchiha clan's head medic.

"Nothing," Loreli casually said. _"...But the loss of a common enemy."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Happy october.


	36. Mistress of the Clan III

**XSweetXSourXSoulX: **Who is this common enemy indeed? owo

**silver-nightstorm**: I like how you like how Loreli hasn't totally caved in to Madara's Madaraness?

**xxyangxx2006:** You know, I can't resist replying to something like that. So here's a reply! And thanks for reading xD

**ChainedHs2rt**: I'm glad to hear Loreli is an unique character in your experiences! I actually didn't expect her to turn out this way...but she did. I'm learning more about her as I write, too! lol

* * *

**Till You Die**

34 - _Mistress of the Clan III_

* * *

The Shujinchi Castle. Situated high above the reefs off the south coast of the Fire Country. Once, before a mysterious plague struck its inhabitants many decades ago, it had lit the beacon for trade ships coming in from the Water Country. Once, it had known fame and prosperity.

Those were days of the past, and long since had the castle limited contact with the outside world. Yet there it was, still; its glorious white walls standing bold and fearless above the jagged rocks of Dragon Peak.

Like a glamorous...

white...pearl.

"...Are you done with that yet?" she turned to ask her shinobi guard, Murata.

He was kneeling in the sand, freeing the last of the weapons still strapped to his shin. Tossing the blades to the small pile beside him, Murata rose to a full stand.

She saw the Uchiha elite swayed under the direct sun, but he caught himself at once.

"Are you quite alright?" Loreli asked calmly, knowing it was probably the effect of the chakra-suppressing pill the head medic prescribed for him.

His eyes, onyx black, went to her briefly. She was beginning to recognize the stoic glares typical to the clan of Uchiha.

"Now remember," Loreli told him. "No stealthy movements, no Sharingan under any circumstances, and no being glued to my side as though the walls are going to jump me at any moment."

"I must protest, my lady," Murata interrupted. "If the Sorairo knew their own weakness, precautions would have been taken."

She shrugged and glanced up at the Shujinchi Castle.

"As far as I know, the medics of the Sorairo have been banned from entering. Rumour has it that they had something to do with the plague all those years ago."

"It could be a trap," Murata stated insistently. This was probably the closest they have gotten to a conversation yet. It said something about how objected he was to this operation.

"...I'll protect you," Loreli stated with a small, helpless shrug.

"But if you cannot abide by my rules," she added coolly, "Don't think of coming with me."

"That won't be acceptable, my lady," Murata replied seriously.

"Then we're agreed." She reached down to pick up one of the discarded kunai from the sand. She beckoned him to lean forward.

The ninjutsu expert didn't even flinch as she cropped off the ends of his beautiful long hair.

"I don't care where your loyalty lies," Loreli said. "For the duration of this mission." She flicked the kunai up in a quick motion, pausing right before meeting his eyes. "You place your life in my hands...Understand?"

...His stoic onyx eyes watched her, unchanging; unblinking.

...

She pulled the blade away, tossing it down to the sand. "Good...You will do."

Loreli went to the bottom of the long, winding road up the cliff. She paused there, gazing up. It was going to be a tedious trek.

"Well," she asked, "are you coming or not?"

* * *

The sun. It was past midday already.

Loreli leaned against the support of her wood staff, simultaneously huffing and coughing her lungs out.

"-You're not-" huff "-telling _anyone_-" cough cough "-how much I struggled with this."

* * *

The captain of the guard came out to meet them.

"Hail, travelers. What business have you here at the castle?"

...She had waited until there wasn't even a single hitch in her slow, even breathing before she had approached the gates. Traveling healers did not appear on the verge of collapsing just by journeying up a cliff.

"I am no common traveler, Captain," she said smoothly. "I am the Lady of Stillwaters...surely you recognize one of your native country?"

Surprise was evident on the guard captain's tanned, sea-toughened face. He took in her stature and her features, but was quick to reply with a frown, "We heard the Hermitess was dead. All the search parties we send out-...Aren't you too young to be the formidable hermitess who can cure any ailment should any manage to find her?"

The young woman was silent for a moment, her lips sealed.

"She is dead." Loreli spoke calmly. "Fifteen years ago, during a ninja attack."

Her eyes lowered.

"I am her successor."

"You?" Incredulity coloured the captain's expression. "The reputation of the Lady of Stillwater is not something carelessly inherited!"

Perhaps it was in his threatening tone, or the way he stiffened up taller.

"Captain-" A shorter, lanky man came up to his side. "Whether she is who she claims she is or not...the man behind her," he warned, eyes directing at the shinobi guard behind her. "I sense an enormous killing intent from him. Unless I'm mistaken, he is a ninja."

Loreli closed her eyes briefly and breathed in softly. So much for hoping to pass the gate check without resorting to violence.

In one hand, she lifted her heavy wooden staff she had used to help her on the road.

And swung.

_WH-ACK_

_**"Didn't I tell you. to not bare your fangs at our hosts?" **_she darkly asked.

...Blood trickled down from the gash on Murata's left temple. He didn't react or activate his Sharingan, but his eyes watched her with something fearsome and sinister.

She smiled a tiny, cruel smile.

"My," she remarked in a coy, taunting manner. "That is a good look..." A haughty tilt of her head. _"But remember who you owe your life to."_

_..._

...She then dismissed him entirely from her notice, turning back to two stunned men.

"You'll have to excuse him, my good men," Loreli lightly drawled. Nonchalantly waving to her shinobi guard, "He is a rough one. I found him at the remnants of a battlefield and snatched him from death's grasp," she claimed.

"He absolutely_...loathes _me," she informed her audience with a small, helpless shrug. She could still feel his expressionless scowl burning into her back. By now he should have fully understood her intention. "But, there's not much he could do about it." Loreli smiled prettily.

"...Only I can keep making him the medicine he needs to stay alive."

The lanky one approached them. "Even so," he said. "all who possess ninja blood is forbidden to enter. "If you'll-"

She stopped his hand with her staff.

Cold voice. "Don't touch him_, medic."_

"This one lets me approach him because he needs me," she coolly remarked, indicating to Murata with an incline of her head. "But anyone else...well..."

"The last thing I need is to leave a blood-stained first impression on my hosts," said Loreli.

The captain of the guards signaled the medic back. A sea breeze blew over the small gathering before the gates.

"That is unfortunate," the guard captain stated abruptly. "We abide by strict rules here." There was the air of finality in that. "Even if you are the legendary hermitess you claim to be," he began, but she calmly interrupted.

"How strange..." Loreli commented, expression thoughtful. "I was under the impression that a secluded castle harbouring a lasting illness would not have its choice of healers flinging themselves against its gates."

A small sigh. She gave a small, helpless shrug and shook her head from side to side. "Alas...what can I say? And after I came all the way up here...Ah."

She gazed at them pleasantly.

"But, if there is a much easier way down, do let me know," she requested lightly.

"I have noticed the markings left by my predecessors on their way up," she elaborated, gesturing with her hands. "...But none going down. Perhaps they were shown another route upon their leave?" she proposed.

"Ah, speaking of which," Loreli deliberately carried on. "You men here appear in good health..." and with a tiny, cryptic smile "...hailing from a place rumoured to be devastated by a mysterious plague. How very fortunate."

Tension descended all at once, smacking her full force.

The guard captain held up a rigid posture beneath his armour.

"How much," he asked commandingly, "Do you know?"

...Aside from the guess that no healer had been allowed to return alive?

"My good men," Loreli replied confidently, "...I am here to help you."

"But..." A light sigh. "If possible, I want to avoid being brought through in chains—...I've an image to maintain, you see. Well...what do you have to lose, anyway...?" she asked. "Surely with no cure, you'll all eventually fall victim to the plague..."

The guard captain was motionless, frowning. The guards behind him, however, gave away telltale signs of discomfort by shifting.

"If you yourself do not have the power to make the decision," Loreli suggested pleasantly, "Fetch me the steward of the castle."

She waited...

_"Are you thinking of letting her through, Captain?" _the medic asked the guard captain in a covert exchange. But not quiet enough. _"She is mad and potentially dangerous!"_

_"She is the Lady of Stillwaters," _the guard captain replied, _"she might be able to find a cure."_

_"But she is not the Lady of Stillwaters! She is her _successor! _The real Lady of Stillwaters would have been able to, but to think this girl—"_

"The real Lady of Stillwaters," Loreli surprised them by randomly adding, "...would have been able to understand the dialect of the north, as well."

...She could have sworn that medic turned a shade paler underneath her veiled gaze.

"Enough," the captain of the guards ordered. "The steward will deal with this." He turned and signaled to the guards manning the gate. "Let them through!"

Well...that took longer than it should have.

Loud, dulling clanks and shouts sounded overhead as the heavy gates rolled back to allow them entrance. Wood creaked and hinges scratched, attesting to the infrequency of use these gates were exposed to.

Truth be told, she didn't know what she could expect to see behind those gates. But the view that met her eyes...

Chimes rang with the sea breeze, dangling from the ornate corners of the high towers. The walls and rooftops were a gleaming, pearly white, designed to keep its inhabitants cool during the Fire Country's hot, treeless summers.

The architecture and the upkeep... It was beautiful. What a shame that it wasn't a view open to outside eyes.

"This way," the guard captain beckoned, leading onward.

...It wasn't exactly a bustle, but there were people moving about. What a curious sight they must be, for many paused and parted a wide path, watching as they passed.

...So it wasn't that the castle had emptied during the past few decades. She supposed that knowledge was a relief...

"In here," the guard captain informed them, sliding open the screen door to a large chamber lined with shelves on two adjacent walls. "The steward will be with you shortly."

With a curt nod, the captain and the two guards at his side left.

The screen slid closed behind them.

...

A nice, spacious room. Just a little nostalgic.

...She went to the shelves, finding them stacked with medicinal supplies. Browsing through the items, she picked out a pair of tweezers and some sterilized fabric. They certainly live up to their reputation of being what was once a prosperous trade site: all their tools were made of silver.

"The Lady of Stillwaters," Murata's voice interrupted the silence.

...She turned slightly to look at him.

"She was a real person," Loreli said. "...Though her reputation has become quite overstated with time. It has gotten us in with fewer questions asked, nonetheless."

"Come here." The young woman waved Murata to her. "I will treat that wound."

"That is unnecessary, my lady," he replied bluntly, not moving a step.

...He was always that way. She couldn't tell if he were angry with her.

Lowly. "Don't be mistaken," she nonchalantly said. "You are bleeding on the floor. I cannot risk your exposure as a shinobi of the Uchiha clan."

Though she said it that way...by comparison, the hands which worked on his wound...were surprisingly gentle.

"Tell me," she said. "How many medics can you sense in the vicinity?"

His onyx black eyes slid stealthily to one side.

"One...Two full-fledged chakra signatures. Two vaguer presences further away. Any further, I cannot make out from here, " he reported.

"...Only that many, huh?" Loreli let slip a small, wry smile. "...If it's only this many...I suppose you men didn't need me to come."

She held up a hand, silencing him.

"...But since I'm already here...I will see it through," she said.

A knock on the wood frame interrupted them both.

The screen slid open to reveal a kneeling young girl, her face painted white.

"Pardon my intrusion, my lady," the servant girl said with head bowed low and eyes respectfully glued to the floor. "The lord steward is finishing up with some important matters and will attend to you shortly. He sends his regards, and some of our castle's finest herbal tea while you wait."

The servant girl picked up the tray left at her side and shuffled quietly into the room, leaving the tray on the flat wooden table in the center of the room. She then bowed and retreated, stopping outside the doorway to kneel and bow again in their direction before sliding the screen shut.

...

She went to it.

"My lady," Murata's voice warned. She glanced back at him.

...Ah.

"I just remembered..." Loreli replied, holding up the pair of silver tweezers between two fingers. "Silver...is said to have an interesting property, is it not?"

She seated gracefully herself before the low table.

Reaching for one of the ornate porcelain cups, she gingerly brought it over to her side. The tweezers dropped in with a plop.

She waited...

It wasn't mere extravagance. There was a reason why their tools were made of the finest polished silver.

...

Nothing appeared to happen at first. Then...slowly and mysteriously...the pure silver beneath the waterline bled into a pale, faint purple.

"Return to the stronghold," Murata said. "There is no reason for you to take this risk."

Footfalls.

Loreli smiled dryly. "...It is a little late for that."

The screen door shoved open with a loud bang.

The offensive sound was quickly succeeded by a blur of rustling metal and abrupt movement.

There must have been a dozen of them. Guards. Heavily armoured guards.

A grunt tore itself from Murata's throat as his shoulder and knee grazed the floor, his limbs restricted by the heavy metal chains wrapped around him. The guards were pulling on those chains, attempting to keep him immobile with all their strength as he put up a struggle.

_**"Don't."**_

It was the only word she said, but he stopped his moving at once.

"My humblest apologies for the rudeness." The elegant man wearing a nobleman's attire came forward from behind the guards. Motioning to her shinobi guard with a flick of his fan. "I was told this one is dangerous."

She made no indication of rising from her seat cushion.

"The lord steward, I presume?" Loreli drawlingly replied in greeting. "Upon whose accusations are you basing this treatment toward a guest?"

"I hope you understand, my lady," the steward replied. "I was informed that this man is potentially a ninja assassin." His grey, hawk-like stare rested on hers. "It is a risk we hope to avoid having in our castle."

...

She set down her cup; the tea remain untouched.

"Then let us be frank, shall we?"

Loreli looked up with her cool, half-lidded eyes.

"...If that man over there were a ninja...do you suppose he could be held down by mere chains?"

Alas, that didn't seem to rattle him in the least.

"Certain protocol I must follow," the steward replied easily. His fan slapped close in the palm of his hand. "I am not the one who make the rules here, dear lady."

...

"And I suppose poisoning your guests is also part of this protocol," Loreli observed pleasantly.

"That was but a simple test," the steward replied, as though it was a dismissible matter she should already know. "A healer of your caliber should have had no trouble detecting the presence of a common poison. I see that you did not disappoint."

The steward went on, starting to pace his side of the room, "For _years _we have offered a king's ransom for a healer with great enough aptitude to end our...predicament. The number of imposters we have had is rather...discouraging."

_..._

She was silent for a long moment as she contemplated.

...They were already suspicious of Murata's background; to leave the Uchiha shinobi with them wouldn't exactly be the wisest of choices. Nevertheless...the steward's talk of imposters was not lost on her.

"...Very well," Loreli finally said. "I'll hand him over for safekeeping. For now."

...She glanced over at her shinobi guard as they dragged him away. "Behave yourself. Understand?"

"I am grateful for your cooperation, my lady," the steward said, gesturing for the remaining guards to clear the room. "This is a matter better discussed alone."

He came over to the table, seating himself regally across from her.

"To the present date, no one aside from healers who passed the tests have learned of the task required of them," the steward informed her.

...

"And you killed those who didn't?" Loreli calmly asked.

...His fan snapped open with a flick of his wrist. "You are a shrewd woman," the steward replied, and it was neither in the form of a compliment nor insult. "Surely," he emphasized, "you realize the repercussions for your clan should I choose to reveal its name and bold actions to the other feudal lords. The world knows Shujinchi Castle has maintained its neutral stance for generations: it has no allies, nor should it have enemies seeking to infiltrate it."

Her grip tightened on the fabric of her robe.

"Oh...?" She gave a tiny, knowing smile. "This...coming from a castle with mysterious disappearances of its visiting healers over the years?"

That grip on the fan tightened, causing the folds to close a bit.

"I am due to report back in a few days," Loreli added in a nonchalant manner. "I guarantee you they will conduct a thorough investigation following my disappearance...and who knows what that will turn up?"

Slightly, just ever so slightly, she leaned forward and said to him: "If you want to go down together, you can be my guest..."

The two representatives of their respective strongholds stared each other down.

"Hm...I'll tell you something good..." Loreli was the first to speak. A tiny, cold smile."...I couldn't care less about all those healers who came before me."

"I have something you want...and I believe you have something I want. I am perfectly happy to deliver my end of the bargain first."

"Some other things..." Loreli observed "...are better left unsaid...don't you agree?"

His wary grey eyes peered at her over the screen of his folding fan.

"And what is this 'something' of which you speak?" his aristocratic voice inquired.

"Just the use of Shujinchi Castle's widely-famed royal library," she said. "Nothing you will be missing."

He appeared to ponder for a moment.

Snapping his fan shut. "Very well," the steward consented. "Should you succeed in completing the task set before you, Shujinchi Castle will forever open its gates to you and your descendants."

She inclined her head forward in a small bow. "You have my thanks, Lord Steward." And then, lifting her head and asking him in a light drawl, "Might I ask what this crucial task encompasses?"

"That information," the elegant man said, "will only be revealed after you pass all the tests. You have passed one of them; there are two others."

"And remember," he added, his hawk-like eyes slimming ever so slightly, "that failure is punishable by death. It is a consequence you willingly accepted by knowing the risks."

She smiled.

"Of course," Loreli conceded with a small chuckle. She looked up at him with her veiled, knowing gaze.

"Then I will be certain not to disappoint you."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** This, and the next few chapters were originally planned to all fit into 2 chapters. But it costs me so much psychological fatigue to write them...I need to split them into smaller chapters TvT

My heaaaad...


	37. Mistress of the Clan IV

**A/N: **Every one of you needs to give me a kick.

**E/N: **~Kicks with love!~

**A/N:** ...Did something just brush by me?

* * *

**Till You Die**

35 - _Mistress of the Clan IV_

* * *

"...Quite elaborate for a dungeon. You folks don't hold back on anything, hm...? Oh-...!"

By then all the guards' incredulous eyes were turned to the young woman walking through their midst.

"There you are," Loreli declared soundly, ignoring the guards' presence entirely.

"Pardon the insolence, Hermitess," the closest guard came to intercept her path. "Have you permission to access this area?"

"...What...?" She looked to him innocently. "Has the captain of the guards not informed you...?" Holding up the water jug and the pills up in emphasis. "This man needs to take medicine regularly from me."

He inspected the jug to check if indeed it was only water contained in it.

A curt nod. "Carry on, then."

The guards retreated to their posts, but kept a watchful eye on her.

"Well..." Loreli approached a very unamused Murata at the same time he rose and went to her. "How are they treating you...?" she asked.

The Uchiha shinobi skipped right past the pleasantries. "What is happening?" he asked.

"They want me to take a few tests," she told him simply. She held out the water and chakra-suppressing pills to him. "So I am going to need a little time..."

_"What?"_ Murata gripped the bars separating the two of them.

...The guards glanced over at their exchange with keen interest.

"...I am going to need a" she started to repeat.

"The _tests," _he hissed humourlessly.

...

...She gingerly lifted a finger to her lips.

"...You and I...had an agreement..." Loreli reminded smoothly. "As long as it is not they who initiate things, I want no move on your part that would make my work harder. Understand?"

"You will be found out!" Murata protested vehemently, his ominous onyx eyes pinned down at her as a frown broke through his normally stoic expression.

"Oh...? You are so certain?" Loreli asked in a light voice.

It was a question which he deemed unworthy of an actual reply.

Murata's cold, stoic voice responded to her. "This is no longer a matter of _pride,_" he said, his pure black eyes boring into her. "That man" with deliberated emphasis "_has death on his hands_; his eyes say you will be disposed of as soon as your use runs out. You think he is an opponent you can subdue with your lies and coercion?"

Her lashes lowered over her eyes. Silence stretched between them.

But he knew better than to suspect that his warning got through to her, their leader's—Uchiha Madara's proud and fearless woman.

To think that a defenseless young woman could be so negligent with her own safety. She didn't know what their leader threatened to do should she get hurt. Her boldness had served her well only because their leader had a fondness for her, but this was hostile territory: she was mistaken if she thought she were in the same league as warlords, schemers, and _murderers._

...sigh.

"...And me?" Softly, so softly and absently that she couldn't have been saying it for anyone to hear. _"What about me...?"_

If she indeed had spoken, then those had been her words.

But if she indeed had spoken, he questioned why a deafening emptiness was ringing inside his ears...

"Lady Hermit," a servant called to her from the corridor, the voice amplified twofold by the silence it interrupted. "The lord steward requests your assistance."

After a heavy moment, she looked in the direction of the sound.

"Hold on," Murata said with jaw clenched.

She looked back at him.

"...Have patience," the young woman said, almost as though she were speaking to someone less than a child. A pet, so to speak, that she was leaving behind for the time being. "I won't be discovered." She absently brushed down her robes and squared her slim shoulders with a sigh. A wry smile curved her mouth. "...I still have a trump card with me, after all."

"And if you're wrong?" Murata shifted on the opposite side of the bars, following as she moved from her spot. "What happens if you fail?" he questioned with a stiff expression.

...She placed a lingering smile over her shoulder.

"Come running."

* * *

...-Is what she said. But things would indeed become quite messy if they came down to that.

...Loreli drew in a small, soundless breath.

Well, no matter. She was safe from that threat as long as they could not ascertain her real identity.

She just needed to focus on doing what she had been doing for ages.

The painted silk screen doors parted before them.

"I have brought her, Honoured Mother."

It was a large, rectangular and spacious room with plenty of light and sea breeze sweeping in from the window. Scroll paintings and calligraphy hung on the walls, depicting scenes of long sea voyages and snowy mountains. It appeared to be a place of quiet leisure.

...

_Snip._

The figure had its back to them, clad in splendid blues and violets.

_Snip._

As Loreli watched, the slender hand with perfectly trimmed nails reached over to the side, letting leaves flutter to the floor.

The shears paused and then lowered to the table with a light thud.

Placing one sleeve over the other in a refined manner, the woman turned around to face them.

She was fair-skinned and slightly rounded, fitting snugly into the standard of who was defined as a beautiful woman. Her long hair thick and shiny, piled up into the rigid fashion of court.

"Ah." The suave voice spoke with a drawl. "You are the hermitess?" An inclination of her head. "I am the lady of the castle. I bid you welcome."

She had the bearing of an aristocrat, and her words were pleasant and cultured. But there was something...something about the way she wore her expressions like a false skin...

Loreli leaned forward in a small bow. "I am at your service, my lady."

...All her internal alarms were going off.

"I understand my boys gave you a bit of trouble," the lady of the castle brought up. "I hope you do not hold it against them. They were merely following orders."

...

Loreli gave a light smile in return.

The violet-gowned woman looked to the doorway.

"You may leave us."

At the command from their lady, the steward and guards who escorted her there made their retreat.

"Come." Loreli was beckoned forward with a wave of the lady's hand as the screen doors slid firmly shut behind her.

Pouring them each a cup of tea, the lady offered for her to be seated across from her. She looked young, for someone who conducted herself with such experience. Young, to be a mother of a full-grown son.

One fine eyebrow arched slightly as the woman caught her looking.

"I am told you are the successor to the legendary hermitess. I have a need for your skills here," the woman said, not once hinting upon the question of her credibility. "It is a small feat for you to cure the ailments my medics have failed to. You will be rewarded handsomely for your work"

"...I understand it would serve as my qualification," Loreli said, staring into her cup.

The lady laughed; an abrupt, rich sound. It shimmered down to a chuckle before she spoke.

"Since we are both women," the aristocratic beauty responded dramatically, "I will tell you something out of kinship."

The woman leaned forward slightly, her violet gown rustling against the table.

"...If a challenge is what you came for...I advise you to turn back, now." Both her fine eyebrows quirked lightly as she informed the younger woman, "What our liege will ask of you...is impossible to be done."

Loreli allowed a moment for that to sink in. It didn't sound like the woman was being untruthful to her.

"...It will nonetheless," Loreli slowly replied, tasting her tea with disinterest. "...pose no problem for me."

The lady of the castle nodded, appearing pleasantly surprised. Or it could have been a meaningless gesture owing to the burden of wearing such a heavy hair fashion.

"As you'd like," the violet-gowned woman told her. "Find a remedy for the two cases presented to you, and I will arrange a meeting for you with our liege. I have my position on the line, after all; I cannot bring a falsehood before my lord."

Loreli inclined her head forward. "Of course, my lady."

...Mistakes were a luxury she could not afford here.

"You will be asked to display your skill here. My men will have whatever you need brought to you."

"...Pardon the impoliteness," Loreli spoke up. "I work alone with my patients. It is the tradition of my craft."

A look of surprised amusement, and then chuckle from the violet-gowned woman. "You have no need to fear. I will not watch you work; your trade secrets are safe from me."

In response to the guarded look on Loreli's face, the lady of the castle let out a short, abrupt laugh. "You expect my absence, when I am to be your first patient?"

Loreli's large, brown eyes widened. That...she had not been expecting.

"Are you ailing, my lady?" Loreli asked. "You have such a radiance to your skin, I can scarcely believe it."

Another laugh. She could no longer tell if those laughs were out of genuine amusement or if they were ironic in nature. They were startling sounds rather than soothing ones.

"My, but aren't you a darling creature?" the lady of the castle remarked with a quirk of her fine, dark eyebrows. "And here I was expecting a little spitfire, judging from what was described to me."

"You shame me, my lady," Loreli replied with a bow of her head. "I did not make the best of impressions on the others." She then held out a hand. "May I?"

Loreli took the lady's outstretched arm. What the other woman said was a matter of course...There was no sense in displaying hostility towards someone who hasn't threatened her first.

Minutes passed as she pressed two fingers to the woman's wrist, adjusting until she could get a good sense of the pulse. The appraising gaze was on the side of her face the entire time.

Loreli looked up. "Your tongue, my lady," she requested.

...

Was it due to her lack of expertise...? Her mind sped up and slowed down simultaneously as unease assaulted her. She couldn't find anything out of the ordinary...

"Have you been sleeping well, my lady?" Loreli inquired.

"With the current political climate our country is in?" the lady of the castle rhetorically asked. An ironic smile.

...But the Shujinchi Castle had tactfully avoided politics for decades. It helped that the castle claimed little land, was situated on no strategic landmark, and had its trades all but ceased since the supposed plague all those years ago. It stood isolated from the wars which raged all through the land, attracting no threat from the other lords who have little interest in it. The only thing she could be referring to...is to the arrival of the Senju army on the scene.

"Then," Loreli continued, "what of your diet, my lady? Your pulse tells me that your body is lacking its usual vigor."

"You think so?" the lady asked lightly. "...Well, you are correct. I have suffered a decrease in appetite ever since" she touched her stomach "this pain formed in my body."

Upon the other woman's beckon, Loreli moved closer and felt around the place the problem was located. There were no lumps or outward indications of an underlying problem. A small, puzzled frown appeared on her brow as she mentally sorted through the list of symptoms.

"You are quite comely," the lady of the castle unexpected spoke, catching her by surprise. Surprised Loreli was, but a shiver ran inexplicably down her spine.

"What brought you into the lifestyle of a traveling healer? I understand that your predecessor lived hidden in one place, had she not?"

"...Not in her early years," Loreli answered smoothly. "I am following her footsteps in expanding my knowledge and horizon before I settle down in any one place."

"I see," the lady replied lightly. "It must be tough on you, being a woman."

...Sincere as they sounded, there was no compassion behind those words.

"...Your ladyship is too kind," Loreli replied. "...There is no need to worry for my sake: I am not alone." She drew back and requested for the lady's hands, pinching her hard between the thumb and index finger and holding that position. "Am I to understand that your medics failed to trace the problem to its source?"

"They have identified the source," the lady of the castle replied as a matter of factly. If the pinching hurt her, she did not evidence it on her face. "The pain is from something I ate a fortnight ago. Yet despite knowing the cause, their suggested remedies have yet to show desirable results. Our medics were trained and kept here at the castle: when they have exhausted their limited knowledge, they have no other option to offer."

"The Shujinchi Castle," Loreli commented with incredulity, "is known for having the most opulent archives found in the Fire Country."

The lady laughed.

"And it is." Her voice high and with a hint of pride, the lady of the castle replied, "And it is what you are here for, is it not?"

Loreli offered a polite smile and chose to refrain from speaking.

In response to her silence, the woman offered by explaining, "The innermost chambers of the royal archives, where the most valuable knowledge is kept...is a place accessible to members of the royal family only."

"But if it's you," the lady eloquently proclaimed, "you might be made an exception."

...Loreli released the woman's hands. "...Has your pain subsided a little, my lady?" she asked.

Dealing with men was easier. It was easy to tell what men wanted of her. But women...well...

...

_'…When…I was about twelve or t__hirteen...'_ her own solemn words to Madara resounded through her mind.

"It appears not." The lady's voice diverted her thoughts. She leaned forward a bit. "Isn't there anything you can prescribe?"

"My lady...What was it that you consumed that resulted in your condition?" Loreli asked.

"Nare-zushi our kitchen made," the lady of the castle replied. "And it was not the first time I've sampled them, which is very puzzling to me."

"Then," said Loreli, "will your ladyship have the same kind of nare-zushi that was served brought up here?"

Surprise was evident in the way the woman's brows rose, but the lady nodded her head and said, "Of course."

"I will need access to a fire, a pan, mortar and pestle, and a kettle," Loreli said.

"You will have your cure."

* * *

Loreli coughed out the smoke that assaulted her eyes and nose. Deciding that the fermented rice had been seared to a good enough state, she scraped the mess from the bottom of the pan into the mortar. She then started the process of grinding the rice into powder.

If the violet-gowned woman thought what she appeared to be doing was strange, she made no comment. She remained a passive observer the entire time Loreli spent with the pestle.

"You are familiar with life at court?"

Loreli glanced to the other woman at the unexpected question.

The violet-gowned woman raised an eyebrow and said, "...It's the way you conduct yourself."

...But that was impossible, Loreli thought. She had been monitoring her movements all this time.

"One who lives at court has to watch what she says, or what she reveals on her face. Knowing more than one should is never a safe thing in a place of political intrigue."

"Yet you," the lady of the castle observed, "You have not given away a trace of doubt or anxiety since the beginning. From where have you picked up that skill?"

...Loreli set the pestle aside, shaking the contents into the porcelain bowl before her.

"My lady," Loreli asked, "What have I reason to fear?"

"Any capable healer," the lady said attentively, with a small, ironic smile, "would have questioned oneself whether or not the symptoms were real by now."

Her heart pounded inside her ears.

...

"...My lady," Loreli said, calmly pouring in freshly boiled water from the kettle. "...I am a healer; my patients' words are paramount. Whether I believe in them or not..."

The bowl was offered to the aristocratic woman magnificently seated before her.

"...is of no import."

"Oh...?" The bowl was accepted from her. The lady asked her interestedly, "Will drinking something that was the cause of my condition truly be able to heal it?"

"...Yes, my lady..." Loreli replied. She offered a diminutive smile. "...If those symptoms were correct."

The lady smiled ambiguously. "You are right. I suppose sometimes...it requires a leap of faith."

Loreli watched as the woman raised the white porcelain bowl to her lips, blowing softly before downing it whole.

The empty bowl was lowered. "I am intrigued, however," the violet-gowned woman admitted, asking, "You say it is of no import...when your life hangs in the balance?"

"I am intrigued as well, my lady..." Loreli replied. "You readily swallow what a stranger suggests?"

An abrupt laugh. Eyebrows quirked upward, the lady replied, "I have been a secondary food-tester ever since I entered the castle nearly thirty years ago." She gave a telling, ironic smile. "What have I to fear?"

Loreli managed a small smile in response. "Then, my lady..."

"You should be off."

Loreli looked up cautiously.

"You have to tend to your next patient, do you not?" the lady of the castle asked with light amusement. "A guard outside will show you the way. I will call upon you should I have need to do so."

...Loreli bowed her head. "Yes, my lady."

* * *

It was dark outside by the time she was putting the materials away.

"Head Advisor," a servant's muffled voice spoke through the screen door, "The lady of the castle here to see you."

Loreli paused, darting a glance at the elderly man seated across the table from her. She then rose respectfully to a stand.

The door slid open and the violet-gowned woman entered, stepping gracefully onto the raised platform floor. Arms folded within her long sleeves, she nodded toward the white-bearded man.

"Pardon the unexpected visit," the lady said to him. "I have received word that everything went well?"

"Yes, my lady," Loreli offered to say. "The wild asiatic grass I have instructed the servants to gather seems to be effective. With a few more washes his rash should disappear completely."

The lady picked up a long stalk of the green, thin blade of grass that was left over.

"This is the wild asiatic?" the aristocratic woman asked. "Does it have a common name?"

"Different places give it different names," Loreli replied. "It is a grass commonly found in mountainous areas, identifiable by the tiny white blossoms it bears. Few aside from the farmers living nearby these grasses know of its medicinal value. Rashes caused by prolonged contact with sweat-soaked clothing is not unfamiliar knowledge to them. I advise your people to take care in these hot, humid climates."

"That which the costly herbs in our vaults did not cure," the lady observed with interest. "I am shamed by this revelation." A slight inclination of her head. "You really are quite something."

"That is undeserved praise, my lady," Loreli commented. "If it were not for your medics' carefully documented record, how would I know the symptoms and the list of prescriptions they have already tried? And it is due to the efforts of your subordinates that the desired herb is promptly found."

An eyebrow quirked lightly as the lady picked up the thin record book. "You can read...?" the woman asked with mild surprise. "The old language of the northern lands...?"

Loreli replied with a fixed smile, "...As a traveler crossing into hostile territories, is it not advantageous to be able to read and speak several of their tongues?"

"Quite so," the lady agreed. She turned to the elderly man and asked, "Head Advisor, do you need further confirmation of her qualification?"

A long sigh was heard from the man. "Whoever fulfills his lordship's request will be named his successor, eh?" Pouring himself a dish of sake, the white-bearded man pensively stared into it. "For a concubine who can never become a wife, do your actions not seem too ambitious?"

The violet-gowned woman smiled and inclined her head forward in a light bow. "What are you saying, Head Advisor? Are we not all loyal subjects whose sincere hope is for the Shujinchi Castle's legacy to be complete?"

...Loreli glanced up at the ceiling. It looked like a troublesome setting she had landed herself in. She should be more careful...

"As agreed upon," nearly startling her with the suddenness "You shall meet with the lord." Loreli looked to the lady of the castle, who smiled a little knowing smile. "He will also want to meet you."

Loreli responded with a small nod.

"Then, Head Advisor," the lady excused herself, "we will await the lord at his receiving room."

Loreli followed, bowing out.

"Age has caught up with him," the violet-gowned woman said once they were out in the hall. "He tires of this unsightly search. Well..." She smiled. "I have a feeling our search will end soon."

They began moving again, with Loreli trailing a little behind.

...She couldn't have known what the woman had meant, but the feeling of unease...hadn't left.

"In here," the lady of the castle directed her inside the large, spacious room.

It was grand, perhaps grander, than the one back at Lord Yukino's castle. It shouldn't be a surprise: This room had been used to leave an impression of wealth on foreign merchants.

"I will need to have a talk with the servants," the lady's voice drew her attention to the row of potted flowers lining the side of the room. "They allowed my flowers to wither."

"Flower arranging is a hobby, my lady?" Loreli asked out of politeness.

"A hobby." The violet-gowned woman paused with her shears, picking up the pot of bijozakura flowers and examining them. A single stalk of kigiku stood lightly drooping it its midst. "I have a different hobby. One of collecting."

Placing the flowers back down on the display shelf, the aristocratic beauty caressed the petals.

Violet, the cluster of tiny bijozakura flowers were...the same colour as the woman's gown. In the language of the flowers, they stood for cooperation.

"...To be more specific," the lady said, raising the shears to the single wilting kigiku flower inside the ring of violet. Kigiku, the majestic yellow flower representing the royalty. The woman drawled, "I collect...people."

_Snap._

Loreli watched, motionless, as long yellow petals drifted one by one to the floor.

It was only a dying flower...

Was she reading too much into it?

"The innermost archives of the royal library," the lady chose to remind her, dangling the flower between two fingers. "Is accessible to the lord only."

A smile crept up on the woman's lips.

"The Lord of Shujinchi Castle entering."

As soon as that was announced, uniformed male servants rushed in. The large screen doors encompassing an entire side the room was pulled apart one after another. The last one slid open to reveal a screened throne.

The head advisor was already there along with a couple of others in full court attire, waiting on his liege.

He cleared his throat. "As First Advisor to the lord of this castle, I will be governing this event. The one who seeks this audience, come forward."

Loreli eased up and went forward, kneeling down at a respectful distance before the screen.

"To the lord of this glorious estate," she said with her gaze subserviently lowered, "I pay my humblest respect."

For a moment there was no response. Then it was the head advisor who spoke.

"You have a name, Hermitess?" the elderly man questioned.

To which Loreli replied, "Forgive the insolence: This lowly traveler has nor needs no name. The day she takes one on will be the day she demonstrates her desire to give up her nomadic ways."

Another pause. She realized that the head advisor was relaying the muted words of the feudal lord residing behind the screen.

"You are aware that, should you fail," the advisor declared, "you will be facing severe consequences?"

"Your Excellency," Loreli answered. Bowing lightly in the direction of the throne. "My lord. Is it not the path of every true healer to attend to any patient, regardless of risk and alignment?"

He made a sound that was half resignation, half approval. "And what if-"

"My liege." The violet-gowned woman spoke up, cutting him off. "I question our hospitality, presenting such a serious request before welcoming our guest." She said to Loreli. "You must be tired and have not eaten since you arrived." Turning back to the lord behind the screen. "My lord, if I have your permission...?"

The head advisor grudgingly lent an ear to his lord's response. He nodded, confirming that the answer was an affirmative.

Smiling, the violet-gowned woman looked sidelong toward the entrance. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

On that cue, servants poured in from either side, setting down low individual tables before each of the occupants in the throne room. Others came forward with dishes of extravagant food, arranging and rearranging the plates until they couldn't possibly fit any more on her table. Loreli had to hold onto her cup which was handed to her because there was nowhere she could put it down.

"Our kitchen spent the entire afternoon preparing this," the lady of the castle declared. "I hope none of you will hold back."

Loreli placed the cup down on the floor beside her. With her peripheral vision she could tell that the advisors have been seated, but all appeared rather restless.

There was a tense atmosphere in here.

She picked up her silver chopsticks. "...Then it will be rude to allow their hard work to go to waste," Loreli commented. Despite everything else, it wasn't as though she couldn't use some food to energize herself.

As if taking her lead, the rest of them began picking up their chopsticks.

"But, my lady," someone, one of the advisors asked. "Have you recovered your appetite?"

"Indeed." The violet-gowned woman's voice raised feelings of discomfort up Loreli's neck. "And who have I to thank but our honoured guest?"

Loreli chewed delicately on a piece of seaweed.

"Rightly said." The head advisor's following words turned all eyes on her. "It is seldom we get travelers this close to the coast. You have our gratitude for coming all this way."

Loreli only smiled in response, munching on a few grains of rice.

"You must have made several stops along the way," the lady of the castle said with keen interest.

The single stalk of soybean took an inordinate amount of time to chew.

"Perhaps you can enlighten us to what word is going around in other areas," the lady said. "Particularly...what word is there concerning the Senju Clan of Forest?"

...

"Lady!" the head advisor exclaimed. Angry voice. "You still have not abandoned that atrocious notion? You plan to violate our three-decade long neutrality by offering hospice to the invaders?"

.What?

...

"My liege..." The voice, surprisingly fluid, surprisingly sinister; belonged to the violet-gowned woman. "Please reconsider. The Senju Clan single-handed united many shinobi clans of the Forest under its banner and had stabilized the Forest Country; that much is the Senju's power. But its movements and influence are greatly inhibited by it being a foreign clan. Many lords will want to take this opportunity and offer the Senju a place to build their base within the Fire Country. That being done," she claimed fluently, "even the lowliest of lords...can aspire to control the fate of the land."

_Slam._ "Preposterous!" The head advisor rose up shakily from his seat, pointing an accusing finger. "You think the other lords of the Fire Country will just stand by and let you designate a chunk of this land to a foreign clan? If anything were so easy, it would have already been done! The Council of Lords," he sputtered, "will order the complete annihilation of this province before construction even begins! Don't forget for a second that the Fire Country has its own elite ninja clans that are no lesser in power!"

"...The Uchiha, you mean?" the violet-gowned woman asked. One fine eyebrow quirked up. "The strongest of them all...?"

Loreli had lost all interest in eating at this point.

"It is true," the lady of the castle conceded. "The Uchiha is a powerful clan of elite shinobi. It could rival the Senju. No, it is the _only _clan that could rival the Senju at this time."

"But the Uchiha," the woman went on, "is nonetheless under the jurisdiction of the Fire Country. Without a proper contract, attacking on a feudal lord's property is considered treason."

Loreli gripped her chopsticks tighter, feeling as though they were about to slide out of her hand.

"And so?" the head advisor demanded stormily. "What are you getting at?"

The violet-gowned woman was in no hurry to answer. Instead, she asked lightly, "...What if it is a shinobi clan of the Fire Country that has violated the truce first of all?"

_Ba-bump._

"The Council of Lords...will have nothing to say against self-defense, now will it?" the lady rhetorically asked.

The advisors were silenced, exchanging fugitive glances with one another. The head advisor finally spoke up, asking, "If a shinobi clan were to breach our code of neutrality first, it is only expected that we retaliate. But Lady, what are you implying?"

...

"I heard that the leader of the Uchiha clan recently took a wife," the lady mused. "I heard this young mistress is not from a ninja clan...but rather, she is rumoured to have been a servant at Lord Yukino's castle. A young woman with black hair and brown eyes...What was her name called...?" The violet-gowned woman elegantly turned her head to look at her.

"Loreli." A pause, in which her smile widened. "...That was her name. Have you not come across such a rumour in your travels?"

Her face carefully blank, Loreli looked back at the lady's knowing expression.

...But how?

How could she be so certain?

The most she could have found out...was which ninja clan Murata belonged to. What reason did she have to make such a dauntless conviction?

"More sake, my lady?"

Two things seeped into her disordered state of mind at the same time.

One, that a servant had spoken where servants were required to remain silent at all times. And two.

That voice.

She recognized that voice.

Eyes widened, Loreli stared as the female servant finished refilling the lady's cup and backed away, straightening up to reveal her face.

It sounded as though all the blood in her body rushed to her ears all at once.

_"…When…I was about twelve or thirteen...the only person I might have considered a friend…"_

_"…betrayed me."_

Su...Suteki?

Were her eyes not deceiving her?

Ha...

Struggling, Loreli looked away.

She didn't think all her years' worth of experience in hiding her thoughts was going to help her, now.

Aha...

Haha.

If the violet-gowned woman thought her reaction was unexpected, she only had that tiny, ironic smile to show for it.

Be wary of the steward, Murata warned? The one that she really had to watch out for...was this woman right here.

It was only a little while before Loreli got herself under control. But, to her, and to those who were watching...those moments might as well have lasted a lifetime.

"I may..." Loreli said, staring ahead of her "...have come across such a rumour."

"Ah...You are not here to talk of rumours, of course," the lady told her sympathetically, seemingly in response to her disinterest. "My lords," she said, turning to face the screened throne. "Perhaps we shall speak of this further, after the matter of succession is settled?"

"You-!" It looked like the mention of succession got the head advisor riled up again. Before he could say another word, however, he was interrupted by words from behind the screen. "...Yes, my lord."

He cleared his throat reluctantly.

"Hermitess," he addressed Loreli.

She gazed up.

"Our lord's task, are you prepared to undertake it?"

"Yes, your excellencies." She bowed her head toward the throne. "My lord."

Sighing, the grey-bearded advisor said, "Very well. I will announce your duty."

She waited.

"Your job is to find the cure to death itself."

She blinked.

"In other words," the head advisor clarified, "The essence of immortality."

...

Immortality.

She drew in a slow breath.

Immortality?

"The ones ahead of you all but declared it an impossibility," the head advisor went on, "H-"

"It is not impossible."

She could feel the surprised gaze of every individual in the room with her.

"...It is not impossible," Loreli calmly repeated. She blinked and looked up.

"...Grant me access to the royal library and my servant the freedom to gather," Loreli said lightly, "And you will have what you want in three days."

What was stunned silence exploded with murmurs of incredulity.

"You mean it?" the lady of the castle chose to speak. "You can find the solution in this small amount of time?"

Loreli answered with a small, wry smile. "...After all, aren't I the Lady of Stillwaters...the legendary hermitess said to be able to cure anything...? If I say it is possible," she noted, "It most certainly is possible."

...The lady turned toward the throne. "My liege," she insisted.

...

"Very well," the head advisor announced. "Your conditions will be met. Three days." He raised his head with the declaration, "This meeting is adjourned!"

...Loreli got up when the others were getting up, their presences a mere blur around her. Her gaze instinctively sought out the long-haired female servant, but she was nowhere to be seen...

She met the lady of the castle in the hallway.

Their paths crossed. She stopped. The lady, likewise.

"...There is no reason why I can't help you," Loreli said with a small, cold smile; glancing over her shoulder.

"And no reason why your background should matter," the violet-gowned woman lightly replied, inclining her head.

...Loreli bowed her head lightly in response, and then strode away.

The woman only watched her go with a pleased expression.

The flapping of a folding fan.

"Is that wise, Mother?" Her son, the steward of the castle, came up beside her. "If she really is the mistress of the Uchiha clan as you say..."

She glanced at the man with a quirked eyebrow. "Tell me, how did the leader of the Uchiha clan come to have her as his wife?"

The steward thought about it. "Wasn't there a disturbance at Lord Yukino's castle several months ago? The princess's favourite servant retired from duty with her whereabouts undisclosed...or so the saying goes."

"A non-ninja abducted into the Uchiha clan...and from the hands of a powerful heiress at that," the woman stated plainly. "It means that outside of the ninja clans, their union is not recognized."

She smiled; a knowing, ironic smile. "I don't care what you have to do," the violet-gowned woman said.

"Make that woman yours."

* * *

He knew something was off the moment she entered the dungeon.

That wasn't her usual haughty and mischievous air he came to know her by.

Murata got up as she approached him alongside with two guards. One of the guards began unlocking the door to his cell.

He watched her with a slight frown. She didn't look at him. He had reason to worry that she was acting under threat of harm before she finally spoke, her voice low and sober.

"There's been a change of plan."

* * *

**A/N:** Someone write my women's studies paper for me so I can flail around and procrastinate some more...

OTL


	38. Stumble I

**A/N:** I'm...sorry...? T-T

* * *

**Till You Die**

36_ - Stumble I_

* * *

It was light from a single source; a lone flame flickering inside a cage within a cage. But at the appropriate angle, and set at the precise distance, the entire Shujinchi Royal Library from floor to ceiling burst into an illuminating radiance. A warm, glittering radiance that put sunsets to shame.

It wasn't simply the strategically placed mirrors that circled the dome-shape ceiling. Enormous crystal prisms aligned the space between the glass lantern and the reflective walls. And jewels. Brilliant jewels lent their shine to the tireless parade.

The entire medial area of the floor was a mosaic representation of the continent, the different regions separated by colour. She stared contemplatively down at the tiles when their guide turned his attention from the menservants now descending from the ladders, and back to them.

"The Shujinchi Royal Library," their guide announced, gesturing to his surroundings with one cultured hand. "The golden throne of knowledge, and the archives of the Great Scribes. If there be any account of influence in existence today, rest assured that a copy of it can be found here."

"As for the sections on medicine," the man was saying, "they extend from this shelf here to the end-...Lady Hermit?"

She had gone in a direction opposite to him, to shelves containing the manuscripts of the Great Scribes. So immersed and reverent her attentions were on the scroll she picked out, she didn't seem to hear him the first time.

"Lady Herm-"

"If all your medics have tried and failed," Loreli said abruptly, dispassionately, "Do you still think the answer can be found there?"

Their guide appeared momentarily taken aback, though she couldn't see with her back to him, but the man was keen enough to know that it wasn't his place to say. "Should there be any concern, our men will be right outside." And with a small bow of respect. "We will leave you to your work here."

Despite having pretended that Murata's presence did not faze him in the least, their guide tossed the Uchiha shinobi a wary glance on his way out. How the small woman had negotiated his release, Murata had not the slightest idea.

But he knew he wasn't about to appreciate it.

"My lady." Murata frowned next to the young woman who was still completely absorbed by the smooth texture of the scroll surfaces.

"...I've been found out."

His alarm proven justified by her words, Murata scanned their surroundings with activated eyes. The action proved disconcerting, with the majority of his chakra reserve restrained by the effect of the chakra-suppressing pills. Pain spiked in the vessels supplying blood to his eyes.

"Well...aren't you going to say it...?" Her calm, nonchalant voice.

The woman hadn't even lifted her gaze from the scrolls, hadn't spared him a glance; slowly unfurling the scrolls as if she hadn't a care in the world.

Forestalling his sense of confusion, she clarified: "...'I told you so'...something like that...?"

His mouth thinned to a straight line.

"That is not important," Murata answered, curtly dropping to one knee. "My utmost priority is to transfer you to safety. I will find a way to deal with the rest."

Her lack of urgency was difficult to miss.

"You want to turn back, now?" The young, black-haired woman asked. "Now that we've come this far?"

Murata looked up at her with sharp eyes resolute. "It grows more dangerous to remain here by the second."

...She paused, and then looked down at him beside her.

"...It _is _dangerous to stay here," she admitted, more so to herself in her ponderous tone.

"For you."

His eyes snapped wide, willing himself to be mistaken.

But her eyes have adopted that musing, faraway look she always wore right as she was about to make a irrevocable decision.

"My lady!" Murata protested strongly. He heard the library doors click open.

Alert and ready at once, he swung to face them.

"You'll excuse the interruption, dear guests," the aristocratic tone of the castle steward greeted them. No guard in sight. Instead he brought with him a row of female servants, all of them uniformly attired and their hair styled in the same fashion.

Yet from the corner of Murata's eye, he saw the clan mistress allocate her attention to each their faces. Before she decided that what or who she was looking for wasn't there.

"Upon observing that our esteemed guest did not partake much in the meal this eve," the steward declared, "her ladyship sends refreshments."

"That is thoughtful of her," the young woman replied, looking back at the shelves. "Give my thanks to the lady of the castle."

They came in, carrying tables set with delicacies and sweets.

"Whatever happens here," Murata was surprised to hear her say beside him, her voice low, "will remain between the two of us. It is an order."

He could only watch, posture stiff, as she replaced the scrolls and went toward the tables that were laid down.

What in the world was _this woman doing?_

Leisurely, she approached the retreating servants, and the lord steward who watched her with a measured gaze.

Even in simple travel garments, her practiced grace knew no match among the other females.

How often had he caught himself from being drawn into her pace by her deliberate pauses, her languid words? She did not have Uchiha Madara's _presence_, nor his brother Izuna's silver-tongued, captivating charm. But there was something about her, something so powerful...and yet so sinister...it was better left unnamed.

An effect she was undoubtedly exuding upon them, now.

"Candied rose petals?" she asked, sampling one from the dish. Much to the Uchiha warrior's concealed alarm.

Had she any backing to the conviction that these people wouldn't poison her? As much as he scanned their expressions, he couldn't read the situation now playing out before him.

"You go through great lengths to impress a guest," she observed.

"Can lesser treatment be justified?" the steward asked in suave reply, tapping his chin lightly with his folded fan. "After burdening you with an impossible task."

What was the man talking about?

The young woman looked over at the steward with hooded eyes. When she spoke it was with a light voice, a soothing tone. "Lord Steward," she addressed him. "How about a game of chess?"

The man must have felt the same surprise Murata felt, yet he did a impeccable job at hiding it.

"Chess?" The steward arched an eyebrow slightly. It was the closest he had come to wearing a true expression on his face.

From the tip of his toes to the top of his black cap, the man was every bit the gentle noble his role dictated. Yet Murata could recognize the eyes of a killer when he saw them. This man was a schemer. A bloodied mastermind in scholarly guise.

And right now those eyes watched his leader's woman like a hawk's.

"From my understanding," the steward spoke, slapping his fan open. "The time limit set upon you is three days." He paused in his pacing and looked back at her. "You are saying...you have the time to take from your research?"

She looked. And smiled at him. A genuine, amused smile.

"Lord Steward," she said. "Was it not your intention to distract me anyway?

Something passed between their gazes in that brief, flitting moment before she went back to picking at the food.

What was this chilling sensation snaking up his nape.

The steward was calling for his servants.

Murata went to mistress of the Uchiha clan, intending to find out what kind of twisted script she was following. She looked up with a quirked brow as he approached. "Here." Pressing sweet cakes into him, she said with a small, knowing smile, "You'll need this."

"Lady."

"It's considered rude to refuse hospitality," she drawled with a dismissive shrug of her slim shoulders. "...Do try not to offend our host."

"What are your plans?" he asked her in all seriousness.

She answered simply. "Improvise."

It didn't take long before the servants came in, carrying a low table with a grid surface meant for chess.

Without being beckoned, she went to one end of the table, kneeling down gracefully on the cushion laid out for her.

"You play often, Lord Steward?" she asked conversationally, starting to arrange her defenses and offensive positions.

"As leisure," the man replied, moving his pieces with his closed fan. "There is not one among the nobility unwise in the rules of chess."

A lie. Judging by the way the man responded unhesitantly to each of her moves without glancing down at the board, he was a practiced player at the game.

For her part, the clan mistress was taking the full time planning her moves.

"I trust that all is to your liking," the nobleman said. "Do not hesitate to request assistance from the servants should you find discomfort."

"You need not fret, my lord," she answered pleasantly. "...I have always found myself more comfortable with books than with people."

Each time she made a move, she rolled up her sleeves in a refined and gentle manner. An elegant rose.

"But I'm bemused," the steward admitted. "You do not appear under pressure. Have you complete confidence in your abilities?" He countered her attack by taking one of her bishops. "Or have you come to acknowledge its impossibility?"

She did not seem the least perturbed by his words when she replied smoothly, "You have done a favour of immeasurable fortitude for this land, Hero. Nevertheless, that of which you speak is entirely an impossibility. We humans and those of the demonic blood will never coexist peacefully, now or in the future. Take up your stave and fight us if it's change you seek, but talk will never happen."

"Be not so quick to dismiss honest hopes as folly," she continued at leisure, altering the tone of her voice. "For under this vast and boundless sky...there is no such thing as an impossible dream."

Never looking up from the game, she spoke on.

"I've not thought you a man of romantic notions, Hero. But, if nothing else, you are a man deserving of respect. So be it; I will ask two tasks of you in three days' time: Bring me on a platter the one thing on earth no mortal can own, and an instrument that plays itself without aid. Should you have the knowledge or ability to accomplish these tasks, then I shall accept your words as ones which came from someone wiser than I. Three days, Hero."

She captured his silver general with her current move. Straightening in her seat, she looked at the steward.

"Passage from Chronicle of the Great Sage. Chapter four, section two: When the Great Sage negotiated the state of his brethren with the first feudal lord of Fire. Transcribed by the scribe, Serizawa Koji," the steward named with ease, as though he knew it by heart.

He quoted, "And when three days' time has passed, the Hero once again presented himself before the lord. With both hands he offered forward a gleaming silver platter absent of any content. When the lord questioned what he brought before him, the Sage replied, 'I bring you what no man can possess on this earth.' Upon which he produced a large fan with one hand and fanned over the platter. 'Wind is what I bring you. Wind, the very symbol of freedom.' For the instrument he produced a leather-bound drum, which, true to his word, beats on its own without aid. Upon questioning, the Sage revealed inside the drum was trapped two bees which made the sounds."

"The lord, unconvinced but nonetheless impressed, said to the Sage: 'Set up your people, for from this day forward they will no longer face persecution on my land. But what they do and how they will live is in your hands. They will not be recognized as equals, forbidden to rule or to possess land. Arrange them well, and the path of our descendants will never have need to cross. For with it will only come bloodshed.'"

"One more thing before you go, Hero. You alone saved this land, no, the entire world from peril. Clearly the power is yours if you want this land and all others by force. Yet you settle for dismal conditions, why?"

"To which the Great Sage answered, 'Within the power to inspire change is the one true power. Whereas in the power to inflict pain...lies only chaos, _and madness.'"_

"This move places you at an impasse, milady."

She blinked.

"Hah..."

She'd been defeated.

"...I'm impressed, Lord Steward," she said, looking up from the board with a coy smile. "You are as learned as your appearance suggests."

"A supposition I live by," he replied properly. "Too often is my humble self taken for an acclaimed scholar. Well, I will see it as compliment from a woman who has the beauty of a thousand."

She chuckled, a tinkling sound which closely resembled a giggle. "My, but I am not without flaws myself."

What was this?

From his standpoint, Murata could swear the two were engaging in covert flirtation.

"I admit I found the...circumstances startling," the steward drawled. He flapped open his fan, sharp eyes assessing. "Is your lord husband none other than Uchiha Madara, the bloodthirsty shinobi warlord rumoured to give no quarter to his enemies, be they women or children alike? Rumour also has it..." He leaned just slightly forward at this point. "He's not above blackmailing and forcing the women he desires."

A barely perceivable change in expression then. The clan mistress leaned forward in response, drawling lightly, "He is also rumoured to kill, without fail and in the most slow and painful of manners, those who have spoken ill of him..." Plucking the fan from his fingers, she curved a small, cryptic smile. "..._If..._you're one to believe in rumours."

She straightened to her original position and examined fan with bored nonchalance. "...Well, there ought to be an ounce of truth somewhere. Madara-sama is a merciless man. And aggressive. Arrogant. Patronizing. And sadistic. Domineering. Inconsiderate. Obtrusive. Another game, Lord Steward?" she asked in the same breath.

...

They began arranging the pieces in mutual silence. That is, until the steward spoke not long after.

"Perchance I should ask this directly," the man observed. He waited until their eyes met and locked. "Do you still belong to this side, or to the other?"

If there had been any misgiving about the man's intent, they were all dashed now.

Speaking ill of his leader and blatantly flaunting his position. It was as though Murata all but ceased to exist. Two people who wore the masks of courteousness and tranquility like a second skin. Their cunning and guile poisoned the breathing air. Oblivious to all else.

A hawk, he had thought? These were like two vipers, coiled and waiting, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

_Clack._

With his folding fan in her possession, the noble now displayed the true strength and confidence in the way he played the pieces.

"Divide the world laterally," the steward elaborated, "and you and I may be on the opposite ends of the board. But divide the world by levels," his voice a smooth drawl "you and I are of the same mettle. 'Those of the Ninja class should not be permitted to mate outside their kin.' So were the words of the Sage himself. You, too, know why this is so."

"If you were someone of lesser existence, it would not have mattered. As it is, you hold substantial influence in the domain of your previous master. Are you willing to accept a place among animals whose only drive is to kill for survival, and live with condemnation all your life?"

She smiled. Just barely.

"...My, but you sound like you are debasing the mettle of wild beasts, Lord Steward."

This feeling. The same sensation he would have felt on a battlefield drenched in gore. He was witness to a battle, Murata realized. A battle between scholars. Not one of blades and armour. Of words and wit. No more deadly but no less intense.

Because the fundamental law of battle held true to this.

The victor claims all.

Sighing lightly, she made her next move on the board.

"...But there is something I have learned in the past few months I've been with them, Lord Steward. Nothing, no matter how small an existence; not one which lives in this world wants to die."

"That is..." a small, cryptic smile "...except for humans."

"Driven by what hands can't reach, we give meaning to meaningless death. If there will be an end to all humanity," she mused, "it will not be brought about by demons nor beasts. but by people."

That smile she was wearing. It was not a simple act. In a shrewd, twisted way, she was enjoying this.

All of a sudden, all of the recklessness, the distrust and baiting; the haughtiness which marked her different among a clan of ninja that did not pride individuality; all of it made the moment he perceived the meaning behind that smile.

Because this was her strength.

her survival.

her battle.

_her world._

"You defend them, milady?" The steward asked calculatingly. "Presuming to mean...you fell in love with him, that man?"

_clack._

She was surprised enough to drop a piece on the floor instead of the bowl.

She looked at him, perhaps awaiting him to repeat his question. Then, the corner of her lips curved up.

She laughed.

He couldn't be the only one stunned by her reaction.

She stopped to speak, her expression confident and serene.

"There are two things all men want to believe badly about women," she stated, her voice impressionable as it was fierce.

"One: That all women are miserable creatures whose existence are driven by their emotions."

"And two: By offering them greater happiness than their current state entails, they will undoubtedly switch up their loyalties."

Lightly. "Are you, too, one of those men?" she asked.

...

Cruel. Her words were.

"Love?" Her long dark lashes drooping gently over her eyes, she chuckled again. "Why does _love _have anything to do with it?"

That something so beautiful can be so cruel.

"I have betrayed a man I love once before," she announced. Flipping the fan shut. "And given the right circumstance..." tilting her chin, she looked at him with a tiny, cryptic smile _"I can do it again."_

* * *

Minutes have passed since she had made that brazen claim.

The steward had not spoken, yet he did not seem particularly disturbed by this new finding.

The mistress of the clan reached to the side to retrieve that piece that had fallen, and thought to ask him a question.

"This...map," she said, indicating to the mosaic floor. "It does not match the current boundaries of the continent, nor do I recognize it from any previous mapping of the land...What is it?" she asked.

She was answered promptly.

"The representation of the continent as foretold by the Great Sage, left after he had spread his doctrine to the four corners of the land."

"Oh?"

She'd seen it. Surely, just as he had made note of it earlier.

In the space where the Fire Country and the Forest Country now reside, only one, encompassing country lay. And it wasn't the only. The countries surrounding it, too...

"...And?" she inquired in her light, calm voice. "...Had he given clue as to when he believed this would come into effect?"

"But of course," the steward replied. Something in his expression put Murata on his guard. "From the furthest reaches of the continent to the other, there is no one who can miss the signal heralding the instigation of change."

Her eyes flashed briefly at his words, as though they triggered hidden knowledge she possessed.

The steward rose from his kneel.

"A storm is coming," he foretold. Suavely. "Under the eaves of which tree will you take shelter from the storm?"

She gripped her skirt.

"Think carefully," he advised her.

...Lleaving her to mull over another defeat at the hands of an enemy chess master.

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

Thank you, everyone who poked and prodded for me to update. You know I loves u all.

Thank you, Maru-sama for editing duties.

Kresley Cole's newest novel in her IAD series made me rage. Just a side comment.


	39. Stumble II

**A/N: **I can go on trying to smooth out this chapter forever, but that'd be somewhat unproductive.

My head is hurting more than yours. Believe me.

* * *

**Till You Die**

37 - _Stumble II_

* * *

He lit the candles which had flickered out.

"Well...?" The lady of the castle set down her brush.

She tossed a sidelong glance at her son who had just returned. "How went it?"

The castle's steward came around the to kneel on the mat across the table from her.

He answered, "She is everything you have described her to be."

"Is she?"

The confirmation drew forth a smile from the lady of the castle.

"Then there is naught we have to fear. She will be joining us."

He thought about that statement. Then answered, "You're probably right."

"Tell me," the lady asked her son, "...What is your initial assessment?"

"Bright and opportunistic," he said in reflection, "_dark_, and uncompromising."

"Those who know and fear their own power," the steward said in reflection, "are the ones who demand to be convinced." He paused, remembering that haughty, challenging, look that had momentarily flashed across her eyes. "...One is made to wonder..." His courtly brow knitted in contemplation.

"What manner of man is the Uchiha clan's leader, to have garnered her fierce respect?"

...

Prompted by her arched eyebrow, he gave explanation.

"She practiced no restraint in defaming Uchiha Madara, yet implied there was reason she served him that was neither affective nor material in nature."

...If it were even possible, the woman's smile grew ever more intrigued.

"Oh?" She asked with clear amusement, "...You wonder if you are able to best him?"

She laughed, and came around behind him.

"...No matter how deep her respect...she is still, first and foremost, one of our kind," the woman said with a velvet smile. "She has seen what lies on the library floor. If she had any semblance to the cunning I perceived from her...then she already knows," the lady stated, _"...where her true loyalty lies."_

Leaning over his shoulder, and rolling one sleeve, the lady poured him tea.

"We need this woman," the female aristocrat reminded him. "You know very well why we do."

After a shared pause, the steward informed her, "There is still one more extraneous variable left to consider: The ninja who is with her."

"That," the lady of the castle said with a mysterious smile, "is probably being taken care of on its own."

* * *

...How he had obtained the kunai poised before her throat, she didn't bother to question.

"...I am listening," Loreli said smoothly. "What is it that you wish of me?"

"Speak bluntly," the Uchiha warrior requested. "What. are these people?"

"...What are they...?" She was on the verge of making a wry remark, but was distracted by the nick of the blade pressing against her skin. "Supporters of the Senju...most likely..."

"What did you-" Murata, the normally taciturn shinobi started abruptly, then clenched his jaw shut as his mind processed with rapid speed. "No, you're certain?"

Tilting her chin slightly in almost mocking astonishment. "You wonder how anyone is foolish enough to make an enemy of the Uchiha clan on its own soil," she proclaimed. "You require proof? Evidence...?" The young woman trailed off, and then she asked, "...And if the object of proof is right here before you?"

Over the impeding presence of the blade, their eyes locked.

She spoke. In her delicate, cruel voice: "What have they to gain by setting me free but the gratitude of the Uchiha?" the clan mistress asked boldly of him. "...Conversely, what do you think they stand to gain from the Senju by offering what I have learned of the Uchiha: the only clan capable of its obstruction?"

The knowledge none outside their bloodline should possess. The knowledge that cannot be allowed to fall into wrong hands. He knew this. _She_ knew this.

"No matter how you look at it," the young woman affirmed to his thoughts, "the Senju is the logical choice... With it, even ones without land can hope to direct the fate of the Fire Country."

His face remained impassive, but she knew. The barest hint of suspicion; the basest formation of doubt.

"...If you are worried," Loreli remarked, one finger gently pressing the blade against her neck. "You have this opportunity to end the threat right here."

Yet, even as his pupils dilated with stunned surprise, she spoke on. "But do that," the young woman warned, "and our scheming hosts will be displeased; the lord will be alarmed; and when word of this gets out...it will inevitably draw attention to the legacy the Sage left behind." Brief, ominous pause. "That is, the prophecy of a second world war the founder of all shinobi left behind."

"The law of the land favours the lords, Warrior," Loreli said. "The abduction of a royal's personal servant is as severe an offense as trespass on neutral territory." She gave him her steady gaze. "...Are you prepared to take responsibility if that favour, at this time of crisis, get turned against your clan...?"

His grip tightened on his kunai. His keen eyes hardened in a frown. "The map," Murata said tightly, "of Sorairo Valley. It was never your objective, was it?" It was with practiced restraint that he questioned her. _"Do you plan on betraying Madara?"_

Her deceptively lovely eyes widened by a fraction. Surprise.

...Followed by a sly and diminutive smile.

"That's right."

...She breathed out a sound of amusement. "...That is, I wish I could say something that impressive."

Her eyes closed for a moment of silence, her long lashes resting atop her pale cheeks.

...A muscle in his tense shoulder jerked.

_No._ This won't do. He was an elite shinobi warrior who did not act out on his own wishes. No matter what, she was his leader Uchiha Madara's woman. Only Madara had leave to deal with her as he saw fit. Uchiha Kakuzen had made a mistake letting her leave the stronghold, possibly the greatest mistake the general ever made.

"But what to do...if you don't hurry..." her dark, pretty eyes were peering up at him "...there may not be much of an Uchiha army left for anyone to exploit. Not with the numbers under both brothers combined..." She murmured that last line.

Footfalls outside in the hall alerted him. She was driven down against the base of the bookshelf faster than she could blink.

Heart pounding, she waited until he seemed to decide it was safe to remove the hand covering her mouth.

"...Don't be ridiculous," Loreli commented, rubbing her throat, "Our lovely usurping hosts know they are answerable to the Council of Lords; They will not make their move while their rightful lord remains in power." Her deep brown gaze fluttered up at him. _'...So don't you do anything unnecessary,'_ he knew without having her say.

The ninjutsu expert appeared unimpressed by her conviction. "My orders from the general are clear," Murata said, red eyes glowing down at her. "My inaction is not an option."

"No," agreed Loreli. She lifted herself up. "You have a mission."

His arm shot out to grasp her elbow just as she lost balance and bumped unceremoniously into the shelf beside her. "My lady!" his deep voice resonated with alarm.

...Her eyes were shut tightly, and beads of perspiration bordered her forehead. "Quietly..." the young woman breathed out, holding up her free hand in surrender, "quietly."

"What is it?" the shinobi demanded. Immediately it snapped to his mind: "The food?"

She managed to choke out a brittle laugh. "Were you listening just now? That's not it." She swayed to her feet. With his help she found her balance, pulling herself away straight after. She blinked, momentarily disoriented, as she looked around her.

"Here...somewhere..." he heard her murmur when she searched through the section of the library she had been to that evening.

She pulled out a gigantic map of the Fire Country.

Temperate and green, the map showed it. That had been the Fire Country before the events after, and including, the Great Ninja War scourged the entire continent blood black. It was no time to be admiring, however. Loreli said calmly, "The site where the Great Ninja War took place in the land of Fire, I'm sure you are familiar with it."

With a thin brush and some ink, she outlined an area in the center of the map. A region that was once the fountain of life for the land of Fire.

Once, a great lake covered it, its outlets webbing throughout the entire country to the ocean. The avalanches reshaped it, triggered by the strain the thunderous wars the ninja have wrought. The 'Ghost Lake', people now call it. Its expanses lay barren and inhabitable, regions no fiefdom bothered to touch.

"A strategic location for any clan to retain control over," Loreli said, "giving access to rest of the Fire Country without trespassing on any lord's territory."

"But," living up to its name, "the place is also a death trap for unsuspecting armies."

Due to the composition of underground waterways and top earth, the entire region was an arena of quicksands. An average shinobi is fast enough to cross without sinking, whereas the feudal lords' soldiers were not. Disturbances in the area had been known to trigger sinks large enough to engulf an army. Giant regions of uncrossable sand that can take up to days to revert back to normal. Proper prepared ninja armies used this to their advantage in their retreat tactics.

"You don't find it curious?" Loreli asked. "The Senju and Uchiha war for Lord Raidenko and Lord Kiyano: rulers of the two territories that border Ghost Lake, and which had not shared a dispute for generations."

So Murata asked her stoically, "You suspect a set up, my lady?"

_"Watch your tongue."_ Her warning was grim and ruthless. "Even hinting at such a grievous accusation_...is treason."_

He returned her gaze, his appearance unperturbed by her conduct. It was perhaps a little...puzzling. If he had held malice towards her being, he concealed it rather well.

Pressing matters, however...

"You have to go, Warrior."

She looked to him. "To warn your clan."

His eyes shut briefly as he replied, "There is no greater threat than for you to remain here vulnerable, my lady. The Uchiha are equipped to deal with the terrain of Fire Country."

Without a word she meticulously spread a small scroll onto the map. A blank scroll, of high quality paper. Once more she returned to the shelves, tracing the parameters until she reached up and gingerly retrieved something from one shelf. A rare copy of the transcription recorded by the third of the great known scribes, but the original teller of the tale was lost in translation. She read aloud for him:

_"'You may have taught us your art and have secured us a profession, Great Sage, yet you enslave us to the lords of the land. This we will not understand, unless you tell us. Are we not of your own kin, the ones who inherit your will, to dream a world absent of fear and oppression?'_

_'It is the mettle of heroes to be measured by the number of souls they serve,' said he. _

_'Those who know not how to serve. are not fit to lead. You, born of darkness and confined by it; do you know what peace looks like?'_

_'What good is peace without justice?' came the reply. 'Surely one as wise as you can see that the lords of the land only conceded out of respect for you, Great Sage. How long before your ashes are cold will they again act out of fear?'_

_'They will not forget. Each time the sun is cloaked, and darkness covers the land; they will be reminded of the reason why ninja are a necessary existence.'"_

...What could the last line have meant...?

There was more, but she left it off there. Mainly because he was sharp enough to pick up on it without further assistance.

"A solar eclipse?" Murata questioned, devoid of expression. "Now?"

An event which would not be missed from one end of the continent to the other; is this what the steward had meant?

She carefully closed the book, and didn't reply. It was common knowledge that—true to the Sage's word—the first solar eclipse appeared on the last day of the Great Ninja War. An unprecedented phenomenon which caused the bewildered lords to relinquish the hostages without struggle. But many such eclipses have happened since then, accompanied by no noteworthy occasion. If she could just find a comprehensive record of these...and a precise lunar calendar...

"You presume much, my lady." Murata spoke as she resumed her research. "Even if our powers are subjected to a sudden eclipse of light, there is no guarantee it will take place during a critical period in battle. Moreover," he said, "Are you underestimating the Uchiha?"

She slid him a glance.

"...It is as I feared."

Cool, her voice was. In the span of a single moment, her demeanor had changed.

"...You don't know the power behind a lord's contract, Warrior. It appears not many do in this age and time." A demurring pause, as though the subject pained her. "The ninja have gotten stronger," said Loreli, tonelessly. "Their influence spreads with each victorious war. The people have come to accept clan boundaries on the outskirts of civilization. Some clans might have come to the conclusion...that the power of the lords is no longer to be feared..."

Light, gentle laugh. "Ah, Madara. The world?" she reminisced with a soft sigh. "...But will it be that easy?"

Her eyes which have been pointedly avoiding his turned to him. "Do you want to take the risk, Warrior...?" she calmly asked. "Or would you rather I calculate this?"

She set the books on the table, tapping with her fingertips. "I only require a bit of time."

His inaction was taken for acceptance. Gently and meditatively picking up the brush, she rolled up her sleeve.

It has been long. A long time. She closed her eyes for only a moment in preparation.

Ink scrawled out from the tip of her brush. Sharp and inconsistent strokes. Reeling.

History-...was no more than the best preserved stories. Should they be the whole truth-

Heavy stream of voices, crisscrossing. Characters and muddled figures as she fought for focus. A whisper of shadow. Touch of blur as the lights spun wild. Numbers and ink lines that carry no meaning. Why can't she remember? Please...she had to focus-

Vaguely, she heard the inquisitive voice of the Uchiha warrior.

...

She took her hands away from her forehead. Breathed out. "It's nothing, just..."

Her hand shot out to the pile of books on the table next to her. Gripping hard.

...

...the dreadful pounding in her chest seemed to subside.

Something still didn't add up. Unless—

Swallowing. "...a little dizzying, that is all."

_Not now. Remember.  
_

It returned to her, as sudden as if it were natural to her: The method of calculating. If only the steward lied to her; then she would know. If only her suspicions were unfounded, she would know. The records of the great scribes will give her an answer. This was it. The one thing she could trust in.

Murata watched, a silent shadow, as she finished off the last few strokes on the scroll. The mistress of the clan then straightened and rolled up the manuscript, holding it out to him.

"Take this to your second-in-command," Loreli said. Emphasizing, "_Only to_ Izuna. Do you understand?"

The Uchiha warrior accepted the scroll without questioning its contents. As though she were handing over the order for his execution, she couldn't glance in its direction.

But, of course, he asked. As she'd expected him to ask.

"The reason you cannot deliver it to him yourself, my lady?" asked Murata.

...She was rubbing her fingers over her delicate eyebrows.

There was a long stretch of pregnant silence, as she worked on pulling sound out of her parted lips. The night was getting deeper.

"...What are you afraid of, Warrior...?" Loreli asked lightly, tonelessly. She said with one of those diminutive, wry smiles, "...I have nothing to gain by siding with Senju."

He somehow didn't doubt that was the case. How many powerful shinobi leaders would offer her what Uchiha Madara was relinquishing to keep her at his side? It was no secret among the Uchiha clan that their leader absolutely worshiped her. A woman of her shrewdness would know that being given conditions better than her current ones was a possibility next to zero.

Tilting her head back, the black-haired woman turned and pondered up at the vaulted ceiling. "...There is, however...something left here that only I can do..." Her voice paused, and then said almost in a resigned manner, "...Be prepared, Warrior..."

But a possibility next to zero, Murata knew, was no guarantee.

The Uchiha shinobi traced her steps, questioning her from behind.

"But can you say that you won't desire to return to your world," Murata asked, his red eyes scrutinizing, "if you could do so without repercussion?"

It was a question which caused her to look back, eyes widened and lips pursed in a guarded line.

...

...She clasped her elbows, turning to look at the vast expense of the library. Here, she had silence. Not even the whisper of wind to disturb her.

...Though no indication of the passing time was present in the splendidly lit space, it was evident that she was experiencing increasing time pressures.

Her actions were growing restless. Her response uncharacteristically straightforward.

"Three days," she turned halfway to say. "I am under the feudal lord's protection for three days. For these three days, you have my word that I will not turn on your clan. That is...all I can guarantee."

Her voice had trailed off by the end of that sentence. Her eyes glossed over, seeing something that wasn't there.

It struck him how small and lonesome her frame appeared in stark contrast to the space she was in.

"...But know that if I were apprehended in the company of a ninja," she said, "I..." long, dense lashes masking over her eyes "would not even have that option." If it were just him. They were certain to let him pass. For her, it was another story.

He knew what she spoke of. Whereas the world was rife with examples of the reverse order, a civilian working in concert with ninja was a serious offense; and serving a shinobi clan was punishable by death. Ninja were weapons; dangerous weapons meant to be concealed. To the feudal lords and all their subjects, there was no greater threat to peace and security than to have unauthorized individuals brandish their weapons in public.

She was a civilian, a former servant at a prominent lord's castle. She consorted with ninja, lived amongst them. Actions condemned by her own kind. The steward, if on nothing else, had spoken truthfully on this. If she were apprehended by the authorities, the only way she'd survive is by claiming to be a victim. Betraying the Uchiha.

There was no way she could go back. To her former place.

Which meant it would be that much more tempting.

"My lady," said Murata, sensing it was dangerous to have her ponder longer than necessary.

"Enough." Unexpectedly, but not surprisingly, the word came from her own lips. "I have done what I could. The rest," she said, "will depend on you."

"Will you find Izuna?" she musingly asked, "Will you return to me before three days' time is up?"

She wore a brittle and sardonic smile on her lips. "...I am interested in finding out, Warrior."

His eyes shut for a moment. When they opened again, he asked her, "Are you a woman who'd bet her life on a venture she isn't one hundred percent guaranteed to win?" An all but accusatory tone. It went against everything he thought he learned about her in the past hour. His eyes flashing, "Or are you aware of the outcome?"

She pursed her lips, her dark eyes staring blankly.

Then a languid chuckle. "...I may be many things, Warrior...but do you _really_ think I am a person who would hazard Madara-sama's wrath, and risk igniting a revolution, for something as trifling as my own desires...?"

"And so?" Murata asked stoically, not taking the bait. "You don't fear what will happen to you if the steward calls your farce?"

A delicate eyebrow rose. "Farce...?" she asked lightly.

He looked down at her from his full height. "Immortality," the Uchiha shinobi said. The matter that she and the steward had been discussing right before him. "You and I both know it cannot be done."

"Cannot be done...?" Faint but perceivable scoff. "...Words of excuse used by those who have not taste the utter thralls of desperation..."

"But_ I_..." she said, with a conviction that could brave a tsunami. "I will survive. I must survive."

Murata responded professionally, "Desperate wishes do not make reality, my lady."

"Perhaps you are right..." she admitted. The young woman looked at the rows upon rows of shelves banking the riches of wise men. "But, if there is nothing else I am good at," she claimed with a tiny, knowing smile, "...I am good at research."

...How neatly she fell into the trap. But maybe there was something worthwhile that can come out of this...

"If there is such thing as a cure to morality," she said with a shrug of her slim shoulders. "I will find it."

"You aggravate matters by remaining," he reasoned.

"Correction," Loreli said with an exquisite, and terrifying smile. "The people of the castle demand a good show, Warrior," she said with that known spark in her eyes.

_"I will give it to them."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

**Couple things I want to address in response to reviews over time:**

**Q:** Why hasn't mention of the love potion come up for a while now? Did it work? Why doesn't Loreli question its effects? Or does she know?

**A:** It has not been forgotten, but any more than that, you don't need to know for now. As for the latter questions: If you have been following Loreli's character development thus far, I think you can work out the reason why she hasn't questioned it. Think, rather, on what you know about her personality and what motivates—or doesn't motivate—her behaviour. There is a specific requirement to be met before she would regard the love potion with any importance...do you think you know what that may be?

**Also:** I've encountered a few instances where what is written is being taken exactly as it appears. That is not how I intended for my story to be read. For one, I, the author, am not the narrator for the story. What I know is not what I will faithfully record in text. Secondly, there are no obvious dividers or labels for switches in POV (point of view) between characters. It is up to you to figure out which lines are fact, and which are a character's subjective experiences. Thoughts, speculations, and even descriptions: whose words and interpretations you believe is ultimately your choice.

Some mysteries will never be given closure. Some truths will never be revealed. I don't want a story that is _told,_ I want it to be _experienced._ So be skeptical. Be speculative. Be suspicious. The more thought you're willing to put into this story, the more you will receive in return. That is the only thing I can promise at the end of this story.


	40. Stumble III

**A/N: **I didn't reply to all the reviews here, however I always read and appreciate your thoughts and opinions! Your observations and speculations always make me smile. **  
**

**Jynxy119:**Thank you for the concern, my dear. That plagiarism issue has been resolved since. I am truly grateful I have loyal readers who would defend my story :)

**xxyangxx2006:**I would be honoured if you took the time to reread everything when the story is completed! I would certainly need to, haha!

**LovelyWeather:**It's been ten years since I started writing fanfiction, haha. But I think you all give me more credit than I deserve. When I first began writing this story, I had in mind only 3 chapters. And Loreli was originally planned to be so flat that I had to convince myself to give her a name, as to avoid confusion.

It amazes me where my imagination goes sometimes. I used to think that I had to get my characterizations all planned out before I begin writing a story, but recently, I'm starting to see that as a restriction.

**Tsukiyomi Zakuro:**Thank you for sharing your feelings, I've read your PM as well. Have you figured out what that "condition" is about yet? :)

**OlivineWK:** That's what I do, too! Pretend I knew them all along, that is.

* * *

**Till You Die**

38 - _Stumble III_

* * *

'As if this night couldn't end any sooner,' Loreli thought to herself when she heard the doors to the library open.

"All of you may retire for the night." It was the steward's serene voice, addressing the servants with him.

She gently closed the book in her hands.

"The castle is asleep, Lady Hermit." She looked to see his approach, his arms folded inside the long sleeves of dark, courtly attire. "Rest will do you good as well."

"I take it that you are here to show me to my living arrangements," Loreli observed.

"Or did you intend to spend the night in here?" the steward asked rhetorically.

She took her gaze from him, and leaned back against the table, face upturned.

"...Well..." she said aloud "...there is no place I would rather be."

Amidst familiar sights...and familiar scents; amidst mankind's timeless inspiration and secrets; and amidst the sense that she was at the epicenter of the world...

The place was magnificent, truly breathtaking. Never again will she be able to breathe in the same atmosphere as this. It was as though this place was—no, was as though she was trained her entire life for this one place, one purpose.

"An unusual choice for reading material, Hermitess," the steward made suave remark of.

Her gaze fell onto the cover of the bound text in her arms. _Art of War._

He moved past her. Sound of his robes.

"According to the general who united the land of Fire under one name," the steward recalled, "There is wisdom in fleeing should one find himself in a position where the odds are stacked against him."

Head turning slightly her way. Veiled behind that mask of elegance she knew, she'd seen, lay a pair of eyes she'd only witnessed on the shrewdest of generals.

"Escaping allowed the chance to fight another day, whereas making compromise is half-defeat. Staying to fight to the bitter end," he said fluently, _"Is utter defeat." _

"...Do you admire his teaching, Hermitess? It is a discipline lost since we nobility began preaching of honour."

...

She didn't answer to that. Only the small quirk of her lips indicated she heard him.

Pleasantly. "My, but you caught me," Loreli replied cryptically. He was staring down at the map laid out on the table beside him, the map with the middle encircled in ink."...Do keep a secret, Lord Steward."

Neither his steely gaze, nor his cultivated tone, gave anything away.

"Your manservant."

"I sent him on an errand," Loreli easily replied.

His eyes shut briefly. "At this time of night?" the steward asked in his cool, refined manner. "Will he find his way without incident?"

...

This man. He knew about it, did he not? That the chakra-suppressing pill's effect hadn't worn off.

Rising gracefully. "I would not keep him around," Loreli said with a small, ambiguous smile, "if I had thought him useless to me."

He waited. She returned the book to its rightful place on the shelf. And turned back to face him.

"If you will, Lord Steward?"

He inclined his head in agreement and gestured with one long-sleeved arm. Follow.

"I am curious. Does your husband know this side to you, my lady?" he inquired when he held the door open to let her through.

"Which side do you mean?" Loreli asked pleasantly, choosing to indulge his interest.

He calmly closed the doors to the library, and lifted the lantern on the ground before he turned and answered.

"Your willingness to engage the enemy on cordial terms," he said, initiating a pace easy for her to match.

...She smiled to herself, and breathed in. "Lord Steward; Even within the vast archives of the Shujinchi Royal Library," she declared evenly, "You'll not find one wise general who will tell you to scorn your enemies."

It truly was dark in the empty corridors... Dense, gruel-thick black save the immediate surrounding where the light from the lantern touched. She used the rustling of his long fine robes to guide her steps.

"Resentment, and belittlement: Tools used to incite the masses. But if there be a general who committed the mistake of only seeing his rival's flaws, his name will only be scribed down in tragedy."

Better to acknowledge your enemy's strength, the books would say, and to learn to surpass them. That which spurred idealistic sons into great men was not a good mentor, but a worthy rival.

"I," Loreli added with a small, wry smile "...can appreciate the beauty of a well-laid trap."

...

He turned his calculating gaze front, and observed, "The resemblance between you is striking."

She didn't question.

"Then, Uchiha Madara," the steward drawled as the sounds against sturdy floorboards tempered to a stop. She discovered they were at the bottom of a long flight of stairs which led to the castle's north tower. He turned to her. "Do you view him as a lover," he artfully maneuvered, _"or a rival?"_

In the shadows a curve rose to her lips.

"There is no denying a man of his influence possesses admirable qualities," the aristocrat guilefully went on. "Nevertheless, you have firsthand witnessed the distance between two worlds-.."

"And so?" the woman questioned with sly elegance. "You want to be compared to _Uchiha Madara," _her voice rising in emphasis, "allegedly _the _most powerful man in Fire Country...?"

...She chuckled lightly when he gave into pause.

Rounding beside him, she approached the bottom of the stairs.

Just viewing up at the landing made her feel faint. Nonetheless, she ascended the steps...slowly.

A sense of lightheadedness assailed her.

"Lady Hermit."

It was unexpected: finding his slender hand extended out to her in offering.

His long fingers cradled her hand.

...Indeed.

Whereas Madara would have lost patience with her speed and would have swept her into his arms, this man remained at her side and guided her as though she were a princess...

It wasn't there. Not the simple warmth and affection she had for Katamori. And certainly not the visceral passion she felt for Madara.

But it was a sense of sameness. Of two individuals who exist on equal wavelengths.

"I may not possess the power and influence offered to you by the head of Uchiha," the regal man conceded. "Nor the strength and ability to protect you from physical harm."

"Nevertheless, I can offer you what no man has been able to thus far."

"...Oh?" She closed her eyes with a smile. "And that is...?"

He answered.

"Respect. And companionship."

...

Her eyes slit open.

"Unlike those who came before me," the steward beside her said, "I will never hope to possess you in your entirety; Rather, you are too much for any one man to possess."

"It shalt not matter where I place in your heart," he said, "as I will never ask for more than you are willing to give. I only request your confidence, and company."

They came to the landing. He ended with elegance, "Someone who hears you with respect, not admiration; understanding, not sympathy. Someone whom you have no need of hiding yourself from. It does not appeal to you, my esteemed lady?"

She withdrew her hand with minimal pause. No need to hold back, he said?

"Tell me, then: Do you wish to engulf this land in flames of war using an age-old prophecy?"

"I am not nearly as tactless as you suspect, dear lady," said the tall aristocrat. "Such a potent prophecy; it would be best if the world weren't aware, rather, it would be better had the Sage never existed."

...It had been rousing her puzzlement for a while now. The fact that he spoke of the Sage not as a mythical figure exaggerated by questionable sources, but as though he knew the man personally.

"The Sage was a man obsessed with having the ninja coexist with humans as equals," the steward claimed. "Yet ninja cannot be treated as mere human beings." He brushed past her, giving her the view of his back. "What one mere human can do in a fit of rage, utter devastation awaits at the hands of a ninja with uncontrolled power."

Of course...because ninja were not, and cannot, be the same as humans.

"Freedom, and equality; noble ideals, but at whose cost will they arrive? Will you have your own people exist in fear? Or, will those who are freed know what to do make of their freedom?"

"There exists but a simple solution," said the steward. "That which the Great Sage himself embarked on: To ingrain into their souls piety, and self-sacrifice; to imbue discipline and restraint at the bottom of their every breath. However...the people's fear, and their hatred," he said, "runs too deep to be diluted in one lifespan. And who, of all men on this earth, can be strong enough to enforce law and order upon the ninja but a shinobi himself?" He glanced back over his shoulder.

A shinobi leader who is essentially the ruler of the land in all but name, Loreli thought. It would never work.

"Indeed," the steward said, "Not one lord in the past nor present would openly approve such a position. To whom would such a shinobi leader answer to? Doubtlessly must not be to a lord of his own choosing."

With an incline of his head, he beckoned her to follow.

And so she did.

"The Great Sage himself could have been that ruler. He, in the eyes of the people was a hero among heroes, and held the trust of both humans and ninja alike. Even the feudal lords, no matter how conservative, bowed before his wisdom. Yet, despite all his power, all his just and wise ways, he lacked one vital component to being an absolute ruler. That is," he paused momentarily to glance back at her.

_"He was not immortal."_

She was silent. The question...the doubt and suspicion, it started forming on her brow.

"Any individual who desires to change the world by becoming ruler necessarily requires to be everlasting," the steward said. "No matter how much one person accomplishes in an entire lifetime, there is no guarantee his successors will carry on his legacy. The Sage, aware of his own mortality, chose to entrust his will to the future."

"Do you admire his wisdom, my lady?" She hadn't realized that he had come around behind her. The scholarly man informed her, "But, despite his choices, the Sage was a darker figure than legends remembered him. For instance, the great disaster which shook the world, too terrible to be named by scribes; you believe it appeared as coincidence? ...Or that, on his deathbed, an uncharacteristic flash of familial love overrode the Sage's usual judgment, causing him to divide his power evenly among his disciples?"

...

"The Sage was a man obsessed with promoting peaceful coexistence," the steward repeated with conviction.

"No matter the cost."

His pacing stopped, and she could sense his gaze on her nape. "First time you heard of this, my lady?"

That was a rhetorical question.

He was a tall man, a trait exemplified when he leaned over her shoulder. "What do you think is the link between the Sage of legends and Shujinchi Castle's legacy? Why has no lord ever attacked Shujinchi Castle for fear of what it may uncover? Can you imagine...?"

Her nails dug into her palms. It-...it can't be.

"Knowing this," the steward inquired, "you still wish to find the key to immortality?" Was she imagining it now? The sense that he was wearing a shrewd, knowing smile. "A world...ruled by shinobi."

She must have staggered backwards.

He caught her balance perfectly, one slender hand holding hers up, another supporting her shoulder.

_"Join us."_ Two words spoken next to her ear.

His fluent words sending shivers down her spine. "We non-ninja are not as helpless as they may think. What we need now are people both resourceful and skillful; people like _you."_

"Join us. We will eradicate the ninja. We will reclaim the land for ourselves. Before their strength increases any further."

She didn't think she could succeed in concealing the trembling of her arms.

"Tell me," Loreli said, in a haunted voice she didn't recognize. "How many are committed to this intent?" _Which ones..._

The smirk in his voice, she was certain she heard this time. "Enough to have already set the plan in motion, Lady Hermit," the steward replied.

She grasped the front of her robe.

Beside her, he picked up the lantern and extended his hand. "Nevermind, for now. You must be tired, Lady Hermit."

He had picked up the title again. The conversation was over.

...As if she could rest easy after being revealed all this.

Because she hesitated, he approached her instead.

"A storm approaches, my dear lady. It would be wise to rest in the lull which comes prior."

...She looked at his outstretched hand. Slowly, she laid her enfeebled hand into his grasp. "Of course..." the words tumbled from her pale lips "there...was never a moment that passed when I have doubted where my loyalty lies..."

His long fingers enclosed her hand.

A dream. How she wished it were one. She was the fly in the web; the voyageur trapped in an endless dream.

She hardly recalled when she was brought into a decently lit room smelling of incense and fragrant wood. She did vaguely recall being asked a question, and briefly answering it. The sound of heavy fabric as she freed the outer robe from her body. Her glimpse at the reflection in the mirror, as he ran the comb through the length of her smooth black hair.

"Wait..." It wasn't until he was putting out the lanterns in preparation to retreat did she regain some alertness. She gripped the top edge of her comforter. "Will you recite to me...the tale of Fire's foundation?" Loreli requested.

After a minimal pause, he treaded to her side, his long robes rustling.

Then he knelt down next to her.

...It was owing to the sound of his tranquil voice reciting familiar words that she was eventually able to succumb to perturbing darkness...

* * *

She lost count of how many times she had woken up that night, tormented by a dream in which she wandered beneath a pure red sky.

At last, she drew a blanket over her shoulders and threw open the windows, the calm sea breeze blowing about her.

The moon was a silver sliver in the sky.

...Ah.

The decision should be obvious, shouldn't it?

* * *

"Come again?"

The lady of the castle turned from her mirrored dresser, the dangling pieces of her fancy hair ornaments clinking from the motion.

"My lady," Loreli repeated, "In order for me to commit to your plan, I have some conditions of my own."

The lady stared at her for an intrigued moment. They were in the lady's luxurious and richly decorated bedchamber, testament to the woman's power and status. It was not conceivable that no one has ever directly came to state their conditions before. "In either case," the violet-gowned woman decided, "It would not hurt for me to hear them. Speak."

"My lady," Loreli then replied with a half-smile, "It was bothersome enough adapting to one husband. I have no desire doing so a second time."

Just a crack, but evidence of that poisonous smile was beginning to show through the lady's mask.

"I have in essence named you my successor, heiress to everything Shujinchi Castle holds," the aristocratic woman declared, "Surely you understand what that entails."

There was no immediate reply. Loreli briefly closed her eyes.

"...With my humble respect, my lady," she finally said, "Is Shujinchi Castle not to be mine anyway, if I solve the lord's riddle?"

The lady's fine eyebrows drew up in an amused manner. "You think you can gain control of the castle," she asked, "Without enlisting _my_ support?"

...

"No," Loreli pacified, "...There is no doubting who holds the real power in this castle."

It appeared to have effect, for the lady of the castle straightened back in her seat. She spoke. "Your return to the courts of nobles is a precarious one." And in a voice of sweet poison: "Think of it as the sincerest wish of concerned mother who wishes naught but to shelter you as one of her own."

...

"Or...you are saying that, for a companion," the lady challenged, "the steward whom you know is found wanting?"

Prickles of unease rose to Loreli's arms. She had struck a nerve with her earlier conduct. Dangerous.

"Pray tell, then," the aristocratic woman requested, her voice rising a pitch, "What exactly do you seek in a suitable companion?"

"That..." Loreli started. She doubted it would matter how she responded, now. "Well...a man who can protect me-..."

Laughter.

"Protect you...?"

"You...?" As though it was too much to contain, the lady of the castle burst into a second fit of laughter.

Loreli returned her gaze with a blank expression.

The lady spoke. "It is no secret among perceptive emissaries who manages the backroom politics of Lord Yukino's castle," she said. "Given that, the very fact that you had not caved into the assiduous scheming of powerful nobles is a testament to your skill to survive! The House of Shintate and House of Tsutano..." her fine eyebrows quirked inquisitively "were both ruined by you, were they not?"

"My lady," Loreli replied promptly, "I do not know what you mean."

The aristocratic woman relaxed her shoulders. "You may be able to fool every man who ever crossed your path, but you are not able to fool me. _I_ know what type of person you are," she emphasized. _"You_ will never be satisfied living in someone's shadow!"

She stopped suddenly, discontinuously. Baiting for some kind of retort.

Loreli fixated her gaze on a spot below the lady's shoulder, sitting straight and still in her seat. By all appearances calm, and quiet.

"Anger at unjust world. Anger at this cruel world; this bloodstained world," the lady of the castle said. "Won't you use it for me..._Loreli?"_

...

Calmly. "...If it is only a person of wiles you seek," looking up past the lady's shoulder, "Do you not already have a viper right here?" Loreli asked coolly.

Over the violet-gowned lady's shoulder, the only servant present in the room responded with an ireful gaze.

"There is reason why it cannot be anyone else, is there not?" Loreli remarked confidently. Expression schooled, she stared the violet-gowned woman in the eyes. "Hear my conditions, my lady."

A quirk of the lady's eyebrows, but she was listening.

"Whether I will enter your House through official matrimony is my choice."

The woman had already made it clear it did not please her, but she remained listening.

Loreli went on to the next: "You will let me handle the lord's request my own way."

Still the silent pressure, but slightly better.

"And lastly," Loreli said, "The key to Shujinchi Library's innermost sanctum, one in possession of the royal family and another held by the castle's steward in safekeeping: give it to me as insurance."

_"What?"_ the female servant had exclaimed out of utter disbelief. Even the lady of the castle visibly swayed in her seat.

She had demanded something outrageous.

"You're asking for the key to the inner archives, the key which allows access to where the world's best kept secrets reside," the lady clarified with incredulity; "The very heart of Shujinchi Castle that the steward's family is sworn to protect with their lives?"

Her gaze firm and direct, Loreli responded, "These are my only requests. I will consider no less."

She rose. The violet-gowned woman mirrored her move, and at the same time; same instant.

"Meaning..." Quirking an eyebrow lightly, the lady asked, "If I but accept your conditions, you'd be willing to turn your back on your own kind?"

"I have said my piece, my lady," Loreli answered decorously. "Need I explain further?"

The woman's face tensed, thoughts threatening to surface through the cracks.

"Well. Very well." A sinister smile broke through the lady's mask. "I expected no less from you," the woman told her elegantly. "If you can-"

"I require it before the time allotted to my research is up," Loreli interjected, once again eliciting the reactions of stunned disbelief from the other women. Before she even heard their responses, she stated with finality, "Please take your time to consider."

Precarious, her actions were. The ebb and flow of menace barely kept in check with each increasing demand.

They were timely interrupted by an announcer outside in the hall.

"Forgive the interruption, your ladyship: Lord Shisano requests the hermitess's presence."

The feudal lord does? The three occupants of the room regarded each other with mutual surprise. The lord of the castle...requesting for her...?

The early sun shone through the open window, but neither side squinted under its direct light, nor tore away their gaze.

The feudal lord: The person who holds the legitimate power over Shujinchi Castle. Circumstances beyond the crafty lady's control.

"If I am being summoned," Loreli said blandly "...then I must answer." She bowed respectfully and turned toward the screen doors.

"Hermitess."

The violet-gowned woman had addressed her.

"You should consider your requests," the lady advised, none too tenderly. "Who all can protect you, now, but the steward's family? Do not doubt for an instant that, should your identify be discovered, you will stand trial before the Council of Lords!"

"My lady." Loreli paused momentarily to look back. "It is you who should need to consider," she said calmly. "So then, if you will excuse me." She bowed politely.

...So the lady of the castle wasn't part of the royal family. Then...a concubine of the previous feudal lord?

No sooner than she had told the messenger to let the feudal lord know of her arrival did the screen slide open again and someone stepped out.

"That despicable habit of yours hasn't changed."

Loreli glanced back at the female servant's approach.

"Provoking the only person who can come to your aid? You are truly fearless!"

The two women came face to face in the empty hallway. A confrontation destined from the start.

"I doubt you say this out of concern for me," Loreli said smoothly. "Or will you disagree?"

"That's what I detest about you," the slender, gold-eyed servant replied. "That firm conviction that everything will always go your way. The Princess Yuzuzu always came to your defense, and now, what's this? You have the protection of the most powerful shinobi in Fire Country? You think you're invincible, to be making demands of my lady?" A pause, as those golden eyes awaited a response that was not forthcoming. "That is the naive conviction of someone who has never known true suffering a day in her life! You, who is blessed with a quick mind that never need struggle to learn, and a beauty that makes people fall pray to your wishes. _Loreli,"_ how strange it was to hear this woman say her name after all this time, _"You_, too, will fall. No one will even remember your name."

"...And so?" Loreli asked in response, neatly folding her arms. "What do you hope to accomplish by telling me this?"

...Seven years. Seven years had turned the mature girl she once knew as her only friend into a beautiful grown woman, just as Loreli had always envisioned her becoming. The mature girl who, at fifteen years of age and older than Loreli by two years, had been the only youth brave enough to risk rousing Yuzuzu-hime's jealousy by befriending the princess's childhood servant. Her...mentor and precious friend.

"Whatever issue you may have with me or my lady," the gold-eyed woman was the first to break the silence, "you can nevertheless see she is siding with the civilians. You know it is the right path. Why, then, do you mock her by demanding an absurd 'insurance'?"

...

Because she had been the mentor.

Her mentor.

...This all felt so nostalgic.

"That despite noble intentions, one can only rely on the wits of oneself," Loreli said, lifting her gaze.

_'It cannot be my mother. It cannot be my mother who did it! Loreli, you know this as well!'_

_'We can save her, Loreli. Everyone who knows the head servant knows she is not a thief! We only need to buy some time before the real culprit is caught! Listen, if we both turn ourselves in,'_

"That despite promises of love and devotion, everyone is ultimately out for themselves," Loreli continued.

_'But, Yuzuzu-hime-sama! This girl herself admitted to committing the theft! There is no reason to further investigate: both the head servant and her daughter,'_

"The one who taught me that..." Loreli mused aloud "...was _you._ Suteki."

Her eyes, guarded, met with the other woman's.

"So." The woman, Suteki, spoke. "You're about to let a past grudge get in the way of your people's salvation? You, who hated the ninja with your entire being!"

...Loreli turned her back.

"Think of it from a broader perspective!" Suteki demanded. "What if the culprit were never caught! The head servant would have been executed for a crime she had not committed! But you, you were the princess's beloved servant! The princess would have saved you no matter what!"

She did not turn back.

"Do you not ask after the head servant? My mother, the woman who took care of you for eight years since your own mother was killed! She is dead; died soon after our exile here! It was the torture she endured while she was under suspicion, coupled with the guilt. But you don't care, do you? No. All that matters to you is that she betrayed you in the end." The laden words faded into silence.

"And so...?" Loreli repeated, unmoving. Coolly. "What do you hope to accomplish by telling me this...?"

...

"Unbelievable," Suteki bit out. Indeed, it sounded like the woman couldn't swallow it.

"Loreli, I'll ask you only this once. I, of all people, can tell if you lie."

Ah. That must have been why the lady of the castle had her present. After all, the one who taught her to hide her malicious tongue behind a near flawless mask was none other than this woman.

"Tell me," Suteki demanded, "Which side are you really on?"

...

"...Is it not obvious...?" Loreli asked. She looked back; a small, wry smile on her lips. She answered,

_"The side that wins."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:  
**

Ever since I found the naruto fandom, I've often seen, and been given, reviews along the lines of (the ninja) so and so is still human, after all. Thus, they can be such and such a way, like humans. And as humans, they deserve such and such happiness like all humans have an equal right to.

Are they your average human being...?

...really?


	41. Stumble IV

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading, and those who dropped a few lines for me :) **  
**

**LovelyWeather**: Haha, I wouldn't claim to be experienced, but there are certain things I have picked up on (mainly what /not/ to do) over the years. For example, not to update too slow. But I fail.** PS**. Your English is wonderful.

**TheNightRunnerLadyBlackwood**: And thank you, for your kind words! I'm actually working towards a career in manga-making. I recently completed my undergrad in Psychology, and right now I'm trying to put together a portfolio to apply to graduate studies in Illustration :x Keep your fingers crossed for meee.

**Opuria**: TuT Why, thank you for being such a loyal reader despite my slow updates lol!

**Tsukiyomi** **Zakuro**: You, my dear reader, are very perceptive; yet very cautious. I like you.

**Red** **Lips**'**nd Cloudy Eyes**: I'm actually not as intelligent as my characters, lol. Does that...make sense?

**Sanguinary Toxicity:** Visceral passion = not to do with reasoning? Oh, and another edit? Though I sympathize...sometimes I have to completely restart a chapter a few times before I get a momentum that works...nothing ever goes as planned -cough-.

* * *

**Till You Die**

39 - _Stumble_ _IV_

* * *

Whatever she'd been expecting, this had not been it.

"You are surprised by my appearance, Hermitess?"

...Loreli made sure her gaze was indirect.

How was she to put this...? "That is..."

It would certainly explain a number of things.

...The grand lord of Shujinchi Castle was no more than a boy.

"Be at ease, Honoured Guest. It is a reaction I am accustomed to."

This was...since when had the previous lord of Shujinchi-...?

Recalling her manners, the young woman bowed low in compliance. "To be so easily astounded by an event as this," Loreli said, "I must still be lacking as a receptive scholar."

"...Hn." The feudal lord acknowledged her response. "Your speech is that of a high born lady's."

With an incline of her head, Loreli answered, "Your lordship is too kind. I owe it to my unusual upbringing."

Graciously. "That is hardly my meaning." However, he didn't sound like he was going to pursue it. "Rise."

For a boy who had to force his voice to deepen to the likeness of a man's, he had an uncanny presence of command about him.

"You wonder why I summoned you, Hermitess?"

He had faced toward the center of the royal library. "You have met with Lady Kurentanrei?"

The feudal lord had made it a question, but it would have been impossible for him to miss the intense violet hue of her new gown: courtesy of the lady of the castle.

"The lady has been most hospitable during my stay," Loreli replied.

A moment's lull. The lord of Shujinchi Castle again spoke.

"I fear no reason speaking candidly, Hermitess." He turned to her, arms folded within the sleeves of his imperial robes. "If you will hear it, I will tell you the full story behind Shujinchi Castle's legacy."

...She was a little surprised. A little wary, to be sure. But, moreover...

"My lord..." Loreli's tone was neutral. "By that, perhaps your lordship means..." her gaze carefully lowered "...the truth is endangering enough that a lesser man would fear to speak of it...?"

...

Perhaps she knew the answer. The knowing pause on the feudal lord's end...only seemed to confirm her suspicions.

"Your predecessor, the Lady of Stillwaters, was knowledgeable in folk medicine," he said, "as well as wise in the ways of the world. It will do me no ill to seek your counsel."

Loreli pursed her lips.

...Indeed, that woman had used all her knowledge and power to assist those who came to her in need. But, whether the same could be said of her, the woman's daughter...

"The Sage of legend did exist."

Distracted, she peered up.

"The fourth generation Lord of Shujinchi," the young feudal lord proclaimed, "my ancestor at that time, was the last lord to submit to the Sage's proposal."

"Like his forefathers, his life was devoted to recording the words and wisdom of great men. He believed himself wiser, and was the only lord to challenge the origins and motives of the founder of all shinobi. That is..."

The feudal lord looked to her. "The cause of House of Shujinchi's tragedy."

How very strange...she thought...there seemed to be the sound of crystal prisms jingling overhead.

_"For the first time as long as any can remember, these lands are experiencing reprieve from an ancient fear...Will you now threaten the very foundation of people's hopes and dreams because of your own beliefs?"_

Her heart thudded...and moisture coated her palms...but it did not appear the question was meant for her.

"Such was the response given to the accusations," the feudal lord confirmed. "Nevertheless."

_"Hero, is it not the calling of every true scholar to desire to know the truth? Furthermore, is it the duty of every lord to honour the principles these lands uphold. I have in my possession the evidence to challenge the faultless image you present; how will you answer?"_

...Her mind was reeling as the sense of cold sweat poured over her. Yet, his tale continued spinning.

_"Here, now. I am being accused by a lord of man, of a crime wrought by principles. A lord who hesitates not with his own safety...but fails to consider the feelings of the people...Can he be said a wise ruler?_

_Neither will benefit reviving what has now passed, Lord of Knowledge._

_Have you the confidence to decide for the good of the people? To the lord before me who is confident...I intend to leave my will, and my power."_

"Answer me, Hermitess," Loreli was startled to hear him command. "We stand before the presence of the past Greats," once again, she thought she heard the sound of prisms jingling overhead. "Between the sanctity of truth and human capacity, and the security of people's peace and prosperity," he interrogated her, "Which one should take priority?"

...By the time the situation seemed to fully caught up with her, several long moments have already passed.

It was as though an ominous presence hung over the domed ceiling, breath abated and waiting.

_Waiting_

"...My lord..." Tendrils of coldness grazed her heart. "...If my lord asks me something like that...I..." her voice faltered "...I am not one qualified to answer."

_**"Insolence!"**_

She flinched against the force of his words. It was as though the entire space that surrounded them resonated his words.

Fearsome. Condescending.

"Wherefore have thou comest here?" His demand made heavy and solemn. "Thou who claimst the knowledge to counter mortality; hast thou neglect'st the thought of how it may be used? Wherefore have thou comest here?" he repeated, and the royal library echoed his demand. Loreli responded reflexively by dropping to her knees, assuming a posture of subservience.

"Brilliant be thine mind, but treacherous is the intellectual who knows no fear!" the feudal lord proclaimed boomingly, and her heart lurched inside her chest.

"Return to the place whence you came," he ordered, and by no means in a friendly manner. "...I cannot leave the fate of Shujinchi in the hands as one as you." She could only purse her lips together.

"Then, my lord, do you intend to go back on your word?"

She was surprised to hear the lady of the castle speak. When had she entered?

Footsteps as the aristocratic woman approached them confidently, haughtily.

"Blessed are the people whose ruler prize their well being above all," the lady declared. "But hope" with emphasis "made possible by deception is no real hope! True hope," she said, "the highest form of human potential: The will and ability to rise after descending to the deepest depths of despair; That, is true hope! Without it, the world will never know true peace!"

The aristocratic woman was answered.

_ "Regardless the cost?" _

Loreli gazed down at the tiles.

The lady changed her tone, asking lightly, "...My lord...Have you so less faith in your own race that you believe we cannot overcome the ninja?"

"Are you not aware of where you are?" The feudal lord retained a mask of cool. "Dare you insinuate the lord's family of ill judgment in its ancestral throne? Do not presume to speak above your station!"

The sound of the lady's gown. Loreli presumed the woman went down to a bow.

"If this humble servant had spoken out of place, may the heavens bestow no mercy upon her. However," the lady continued, "The steward's family has been the guardian of Shujinchi since the days of the fourth generation lord. As such, it is also my duty find out this:"

Her interest perked, Loreli listened with care.

"Is the current lord's family even qualified to rule?"

...Loreli felt a frown...

..What...?

"Three decades ago when half of Shujinchi fell ill to an unknown illness," the lady of the castle said, "the late lord, still without a heir, was not spared. In despair over the castle's fate, he did the unthinkable and declared that whoever brings him power to counter death shall inherit his birthright."

_Unknown illness. _

"The late lord's recovery was a spontaneous one," the feudal lord countered decisively. "The medics will attest to that."

_Spontaneous recovery?_

"It is as you say," the lady agreed. "The quest for immortality never reached a conclusion. However, my lord..." her voice lowered "...why then do you turn away healers who may accomplish what you ask?"

"This is a matter of principles," the feudal lord answered.

"As is keeping to one's word," the lady responded eloquently.

...Truth be told, this was making Loreli uneasy. It wasn't just any day that someone would behave so brazenly before a lord. Not even she-

"And what of you, Hermitess?" Loreli was surprised to hear. "If you bear any likeness to your predecessor, then by now you are aware of the reason behind Shujinchi Castle's existence. What reason have you to covet Shujinchi family's keys?"

Once again, the weight that crushed down upon her felt corporeal.

_Reason?_

For a split second, the image of that medic's mocking laugh flashed before her eyes.

All at once she snapped her out of her reverie. That's right...it wasn't like she had a choice. It was needless hesitating on useless matters.

Loreli straightened. "Lord Shujinchi, your request has been heard," she said. "As for the mode of payment, I request the lord's family's key to be relinquished to me before my time is used."

_"Pardon?" _the lady of the castle voiced incredulously.

_"It is," _Loreli forestalled, "something I am not permitted to return without."

_...Then, what will be your answer, my lord?_

A meditative silence ensued.

"It appears you are no slave to fate."

Her heart hammered inside her chest.

"Do you think me a coward?"

Surprised by his question, Loreli blinked.

"So be it. I acquiesce to your request."

She held her breath as he made move to pass her. "Whether you can uphold your end of the agreement," the feudal lord forewarned her, "Stake your life on it."

Though he was outwardly courteous, the intent was unbelievably cold. Just like that, the feudal lord took his leave.

She remained frozen until the lady of the castle extended a hand down at her.

"You nearly got into trouble back there," stated the woman whom the feudal lord had addressed as Lady Kurentanrei.

Loreli accepted her help in rising up.

"He does not intend to make good on his word," the lady told her conversationally. "He does not intend to give you what he does not possess."

To the lady's surprise, Loreli answered, "I know."

"Do you?" the aristocratic woman inquired interestedly. "Then you know the reason he set this up is to force our family's key into his hands. You know that regardless the outcome, he will have you silenced?"

Loreli shut her eyes briefly, trying to think.

Long sleeves encircled her shoulders unexpectedly.

"Ah, child." The woman's measured and sinister voice sent shivers down her spine. "You must be feeling unsettled by all this," the lady said whisperingly into her ear.

"Do not worry. There is but a simple solution."

A sudden coldness in the palm of her hands. Loreli looked down at the small bottle the lady had pressed into her hold.

What was...?

"The late lord who had exchanged his soul..." their eyes met "...became no immortal. Or, should I say..." the lady lightly arched her eyebrows "his death was no twist of fate."

"For one to achieve immortality...means the power to conquer even death," the lady reasoned to her, her words laden with sinister implications. "...Does it not?"

* * *

...Likeness to the Lady of Stillwaters, was it...?

Loreli leaned out the window with a sigh. Cold night air hit her face and pulled her hair.

The sound of turbulent waves came from far below. Anyone who fell from this height would face certain death, she observed. Escape was no option at this stage.

_'Or is it that you have a better solution?' _The words of the lady of the castle haunted her. _'Do you perhaps hope that the feudal lord will overlook your background if you stand on his side?'_

Another sigh.

What would that woman have done in her place...?

_'Listen, Loreli...'_

_'...you have to be strong...'_

_'My wish is for you to always remain under the protection of this family we're indebted to. But, if that cannot be, then I want the one who will be powerful enough to seize you away from here...to be a man who will love you dearly.'_

But, Mother... Loreli gripped the windowsill.

_You have never told me what person you wanted me to become. What should I do, now...?_

From outside the apothecary, the sound of the gong resonated as the timekeepers made their round through the castle corridors. It was the first hour past midnight already. In her mind's eye she tried to picture where the Uchiha army would be by then.

The...side that wins...is it...?

* * *

On the third day since she had arrived, when the steward came to check on her; she told him, "I have made my decision."

* * *

Loreli picked up the new gown the lady of the castle had sent her.

Thankfully the fabric was not in a violet hue, but a serene ivory white.

She put it on without assistance. By then, every person in the castle should have been gathered in one place. She expected to be one of the last to arrive.

With the remaining time allocated to her, Loreli rehearsed everything in her mind.

_'Then,' _the steward had inquired, _'on the morrow...'_

_'Gather everyone from the castle,' _Loreli had told him. A small, mirthless smile. _'A lord who had lost his right to rule...his dethroning should be no minor spectacle, now should it...?'_

Loreli paused in tying her obi belt, glancing at the small opaque bottle sitting on the table. _'...Also, there is something else in which I require your assistance.'_

She picked up the hair sticks next to her, expertly putting up her hair.

_'Let me ask you this again,' _at the very end, she had said. _'Will you not give your key to me even at the risk of the feudal lord acting one step ahead of you?'_

He'd been confident. Knowingly so. _  
_

_'However, the feudal lord has yet to relinquish his, do I speak right?'_

...

Her dressing completed, Loreli turned to gaze at her reflection in the mirror.

_'We must take precautionary measures against what he may be scheming. Though we cannot give you what you seek beforehand,' _the steward had informed her, '...rest assured that it will be yours.'

Loreli picked up her equipment from the table and headed for the door.

Despite what her mother had wanted for her, she had never felt protected inside a feudal lord's castle. It was the feeling of every step being watched; the knowledge that one misstep after long years of servitude will cost dearly, and that one wrongly chosen side will be the end of it.

On second thought...maybe if it were that woman, she wouldn't have experienced difficulty with anything.

Well...once again...she was about to embark on a treacherous road.

_So won't you watch over me, again, Mother...?_

* * *

She wasn't surprised to see the castle guards lined up on each side. 'Everyone in the castle' included them, after all. The Shujinchi Royal Library was filled with the castle's inhabitants.

However, all were silent as though prepared for something to happen.

The same manservant who had guided her on her first visit to the library announced her entrance. He wore a thinly concealed expression of distaste, likely still indignant from their last encounter.

"Here we are gathered at the request of the steward's family," he declared to the people, who had all formed a semi-circle to one side of the space. "Once more, an individual has risen to the task of our lord. However, the steward's family has reason to believe this one is legitimate."

The crowd stirred, like a whisper among tall grass. From across the library floor, she could sense the presence of the steward's family, and also the lord's.

"Hailing from the regions of the north," he continued, "her name is-"

"Not of importance."

Ignoring the man's look of indignation, Loreli stepped forward and lifted her chin; speaking in a loud, clear voice.

"Shujinchi Castle's three decades of fear and isolation," she proclaimed. "I will be the one to end it."

The reaction from the people was fantastic. The lady of the castle was sure to be pleased.

_'Under the eaves of which tree will you take shelter from the storm?' _The words flitted through her mind.

"...A storm is coming, Lord Steward...?" Loreli asked lightly, coolly, but was certain she would be heard.

A small, cryptic smile.

"...I. _am. _the storm_."_

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**_  
_

Yes, I know what you wanna ask!

Although this story revolves around Uchiha Madara, the main character—that is, the character I chose to tell the story with—is Loreli. Sooo...please bear with my choices as the writer TuTb


	42. Deceiver of Fools I

**A/N:** Arrrrghhhhhhh!

* * *

**Till You Die**

40 - _Deceiver of Fools I_

* * *

She couldn't hear.

Not even the sound of her own heartbeat.

...From all the way across the library, she saw with exceptional clarity the feudal lord lifting his hand in beckon.

...

"...-forward."

She heard none of what he said before that, but she risked a guess and glanced back over her shoulder.

"You can come in, now."

The library doors reopened, and in came four menservants carrying a basin containing a beautiful bush tree clearly not representative of the harsh climate of Fire Country.

A curious murmur was heard among the castle's inhabitants, and the feudal lord questioned, "This is...?"

"Lord Shujinchi," Loreli said confidently, "Did you believe that Shujinchi Castle was the first to research the problem of eternal life?"

That simply was not true. "Many great rulers have entertained the idea of living forever," Loreli said. "However, none as avidly as Lord Sumachi of the northern regions. He was said to have fallen for a woman so beautiful..." the young woman said wittingly "...that he had hoped to preserve her beauty for eternity."

"For years his healers sought to cross-breed and cultivate every known medicinal plant. It was their hope that finding by finding the one combined property that could cure all ailments, it would be the key leading to everlasting life."

"Alas, that was not to be." Loreli continued. "Too late did they realize the ever changing criteria of the task.

At the same time, a disturbance in his domain caused the lord to abandon the operation, and everything was dumped into an icy cavern underneath the snow."

"Word that the Lord Sumachi had once undertaken ambitious research," the feudal lord said in response, "I have already known."

Get to the point, he means?

Loreli carried on smoothly, "Not long after, the body of a convict sentenced to die was thrown to the icy tomb, and the cavern sealed. It was no coincidence that a man of his very description appeared within the lord's domain a second time."

"Were the lord's men certain he was killed?" the feudal lord interrupted, guardedly.

"...My lord," Loreli replied unhurriedly, "It was the lord himself who dealt the mortal blow. No one than the lord was more certain of this, and it caused him to reopen the route to the cavern to see for himself."

"The body was nowhere to be found, I presume?" the feudal lord replied.

"That is correct," Loreli answered smoothly. "What he expected to see...was not to be seen..."

"...And what he had not expected to see..." a light, wry smile "...indeed did appear."

Her voice low. "Inside that icy cavern hidden by the snow...a single bush left from their experimentation did survive..."

"Nonsense-!"

The elderly head advisor spoke out, coming to stand between her and his liege.

"You say that a plant was able to survive encaged by ice, in the freezing conditions of the northern regions! Such insolence!"

"Indeed." Unfazed, Loreli raised her voice in response. "While its roots cannot meet earth; while its leaves cannot greet sun; while under these conditions it survived, that, in itself says something..." she looked to the young lord "...does it not...?"

He held her gaze.

...She drew back, turned.

"Under normally uninhabitable conditions, it survived," Loreli proclaimed. "And even bore a fruit."

Gingerly lifting her sleeve, the young woman indicated with one finger.

Lo and behold, hanging from the branches of the bush was a single, blood-red fruit.

"So, by this. Simply by this," the head advisor demanded, "You believe it has a connection to the man who gained immortality?"

"Ever since that day, this fruit has remained thus as though frozen in time!" Loreli countered. "Its preservation is flawless! Its immunity infallible! If there be such thing as a fruit of eternal life, as Lord Sumachi called it, then what else deserves a title..." her gaze trailed to the side, to the lady of the castle watching from her position in front of the crowd "...but a fruit that may grant one the power to conquer even death...?"

...She caught it. An approving smile.

"Then why had Lord Sumachi himself not put it to the test?" the head advisor retorted.

She looked back to him. And answered.

"Because by then, what he had wanted..." the briefest of pauses "...was already out of his reach."

"What is the purpose of living forever...when all you had wanted is gone...?" she asked.

"Moreover, what is the purpose of living forever..." this time her half-lidded gaze fell upon the young lord; and with a soft, knowing smile "...when you find out that what you have struggled for is not something unobtainable..._but something that did not even exist...?"_

"You-! Insolent!"

When she looked, she saw that the head advisor had gone red and appeared as though he was about to strike her at any moment.

His voice shook with rage as he spoke. "Dare youu-...feed your lies...to our lord...!"

Her unaffected demeanor seemed to serve to agitate him more.

"I now see I have misjudged you! It is transparent what your plan is, and who you work for!" he accused.

"Your Excellency," with feigned ignorance, "Do you accuse me of poison?"

Loreli extended an arm back, indicating to the bush tree in question. "Is it even possible for a plant so beautiful with vitality to harbour poison in its veins?"

Of course, he had nothing to say to that.

Nevertheless.

"If you think-...you-!...and that vile snake of a woman-!" Suddenly, he doubled over, his wheezing turning into a violent cough.

"Your Excellency!" The medics came rushing over from the sidelines.

Though the gaps between their bodies, she saw the elderly man's knees give away and he coughed up.

_Blood?_

"What are you all doing?" The aristocratic woman's voice pulled her out of her shock. "Quickly, His Excellency's medication! Have him rest, before his condition acts up again."

Somehow in the midst of the rabble, their eyes met.

The lady, eyes knowing, gave her the slightest hint of a nod.

Her blood chilled: It felt like she was inside another person's body, borrowing the eyes that witnessed the head advisor being taken away. Her mind haunted by one phrase:

_'The late lord...became no immortal. Or should I say...his death was no twist of fate.'_

Loreli looked to the feudal lord, who stood motionless with his eyes shut. Throughout the library it was as though no one dared to lift a voice in whisper.

What's this...?

This was the kind of power the lady had over the castle...?

That not even the feudal lord cannot hold a candle to her wiles... Ah, but

"Hermitess."

She heard the feudal lord address her through the muffling in her ears.

"That which would have been kept a grave secret, how came you to know of it?" he asked reasonably.

...

...In response, Loreli gracefully lowered down in a kneel before his presence. Besides, she was doubting her ability to remain upright any longer.

"My lord..." Loreli said softly "...If it is the life story of my mentor, I can at least do her the respect of committing it to memory, can I not...?"

He wore a look of surprise, and it was quickly overcome by an expression of comprehension.

"Her profound knowledge of medicinal plants," Loreli said, "also started from back then when she was being held captive."

With one hand, she contemplated the rim of the basin. "...This darling plant cost her years of her youth..." a wistful expression "...yet not once had she deliberated abusing its power..."

She stared ahead of her with a faraway look in her eyes. "...Under the guidance of such a mentor, would that I had believed your lordship, who is praised as all knowing and wise, to be a person who would honour the same principles...a very strange thing at all...?"

...She nearly had him in her grasp.

Gone was the guardedness that had been evident in his eyes. Instead, there was the manifestation of weariness, of resignation...

No, more than likely, he wasn't even paying any more attention to her act.

"My lord...?'

...

She decided it was as good a time to proceed as any.

"My lord, may I request your word, here before your subjects, that whoever presents forth the key to immortality shall receive the right to the Shujinchi throne?"

Her pulse raced as she sensed him awake from his stupor, sensed his eyes on the top of her head.

...

"Is your faith in such hope..." The feudal lord spoke to her. "...so strong...? Is it your belief that knowledge _will _show the way?"

Loreli calculated her response, eyes unblinking. A little more, and this match was as good as hers.

"...Hope...?" Despite herself, a tiny, cruel smile appeared on her lips. "My lord...there is no such thing as _'true hope'_."

"At least _I_" she felt the lady of the castle and the steward look askance at her "do not have such faith in people."

"There is no one...who wants to pay the price for another person's sin."

"But, my lord," Loreli continued.

"It is the wishes of the people."

How could she...or anyone...hope to stand against the blind faith of the people...?

"Nothing is more treacherous than a fearless intellect...?" she quoted from him. "Then..." staring at a spot on the floor before her "...have your fears...now come to pass...?"

"It is a lonely...and thankless job..." her voice morphing into something sinister and sinfully exquisite at the same time "But do not worry," she said, "...it will be the last duty you have to perform..."

"My lord..."

It was no secret he'd been held in thrall by her words. The type of lifelessness in his eyes...she knew it very well.

"Everyone...is waiting for your judgment..." Loreli said. "Will you...personally..." gesturing gracefully with one hand, to the blood red fruit hanging from the tree "...put an end to their anticipation?"

She could longer look in his direction.

_...Don't blame me for short life._

Blame this world where strength was everything.

She, too, only wanted to survive.

For those she wished to protect.

For the promise she had to honour.

...For herself...

"This is the path you wish to take?" the feudal lord asked her. Somehow it felt fitting that he would ask her that.

"So, you need not fight any longer, my lord..." Loreli replied, her expression just a tad forlorn.

...The side that wins...had long been decided...

...Since from the beginning...without the possessing the key in his hands...the feudal lord was only fighting a losing battle. To acknowledge a cure to mortality as true would only reveal what was lost under his care. And now, backed into a corner, he had one decision to make.

"She cannot be trusted. You will suffer," the feudal lord warned her.

Eyes closed, Loreli did not reply; only rose from her kneel and backed away to leave space.

"The Shujinchi Royal Family will forever be remembered...as descendants who lived with duty, and integrity," she said.

A fitting end...at the very least.

He moved forward.

"My lord!" The doors to the Shujinchi library slammed open. "Do not touch that thing!" the voice of the head advisor hollered out. "It is poison!"

The feudal lord ignored it, and in fact appeared to be trying to shut it all out.

"My lord...! Did you not say that regardless if the people will acknowledge you or not, you will still protect them from the clutches of that murderess? My looord!"

The elder called out with the desperation of the last person who had ever believed in him.

It was useless. The lord was already...

Stunned silence fell over the library.

That is...because the hermitess, the honoured guest, had committed the unthinkable sin of lifting up a hand, and poking the feudal lord straight on his forehead.

"...Is the extent of your conviction...only this much?" Loreli asked quietly.

"Hermitess." The lady of the castle asked of her from the side, "What _are _you doing?"

Loreli pursed her lips.

...

"Hermitess?" The young lord seconded the question.

The temporary spell was broken by the collapse of the head advisor.

"Your Excellency!" A few men rushed into the library, hurrying over to the head advisor's side. "He shouldn't be moving about!" Loreli recognized them as the medics of the castle. "Quick, the herbs!"

All at once, there came the sound of murmuring, commotion, and confusion.

"What is going on here?" the lady of the castle demanded, her voice rising above the rabble. Loreli swore she could hear a 'tch' in the aristocratic woman's voice. "Where do you think you are at this very instant!"

"My lady," one of the medics who had his hands free bowed down to the lady. "We beg your forgiveness for our imprudence. However, there is an urgent matter for you to attend to: His Excellency's condition is not of natural causes," the medic reported, "He has been poisoned!"

Of course, the lady's reaction...or lack thereof...was nothing Loreli hadn't expected. She saw with a steadily increasing sense of alarm the way the aristocratic woman's expression changed from a scowl to deadpan, and then to a wicked calm.

_"My," _the violet-gowned woman interjected, loud enough for the entire room to hear. "So that report was true, after all."

Loreli gritted her teeth.

"What do you mean?" the feudal lord demanded for clarification.

"My lord." The lady of the castle turned to him, bowed. "A number of days ago, this humble subject had heard through a reliable source that a certain clan of ninja was planning to infiltrate our Shujinchi Castle."

There was a perceivable change in the feudal lord's stance. "Repeat what you have said."

"My lord," the aristocratic woman replied, "I understand your incredulity. I, too, dismissed the information at the time. After all...who would be foolish enough to risk inciting the wrath of the Council of Lords upon them? Moreover...sending a defenseless woman at that."

There it was.

The confrontation she'd hoped to avoid.

"A woman?" Loreli heard the feudal lord say. Though he still questioned, she could tell that soon enough...he would be able to make the connections on his own.

"Yes, my lord," the lady of the castle answered him. Then, she straightened and started her approach. "A woman outwardly harmless, but in actuality is the mistress of the Uchiha clan."

Loreli forced herself to remain rooted, and impassive, as the lady came toward her with deliberate steps.

"A woman short of stature, but with the great daringness capable of dispatching poison to a feudal lord's subjects!"

_"Loreli" _She inwardly flinched at her name. "Is her name: a feudal lord's servant who had defected to the shinobi." Their eyes met, held. "My lord," the lady of the castle said, "Do we not have someone present here who meets those descriptions...?"

Her fists clenched. Her gaze drooped.

...

Step.

Is this it...?

This is the furthest she could go...? End of the road?

Step.

_Pass._

"What are you guards think you're doing!" the lady of the castle snapped. "Arrest her this instant!"

"M-my lady? Wh-why!"

_...Huh...?_

"Did you think your actions were not suspicious?" the lady's voice haughtily demanded. "You have only been with us a few weeks, and yet the amount of evidence that has surfaced against you is insurmountable!"

...After the initial stages of her confusion, Loreli realized that the one the lady had accused was not her, but a servant girl standing on the other end of the semi-ring of people.

"Seize her!"

"My lady! I-no!" the girl protested as the castle guards, uncertain of what was truly going on, went to grab hold of her. "My lord! I am innocent, please!"

The panic and confusion on the poor girl's face: it was absolutely heart wrenching. But, before anyone could perhaps react, the lady spoke.

"My lord," the aristocratic woman turned toward him to say. "Allow me to take care of this matter. A crime this grave cannot be treated as per normal measures." Her tongue was unstopping, and sly. "It frightens to know what secrets she'd have stolen. I will get her to talk."

Though it was with circumspection, the feudal lord indicated his permission.

Loreli made her eyes shut tight, hearing the voice of the woman beside her.

"Guards, take her to the chamber. Even if you have to scrape her to the bones, and crush every single bone, you must have her admit her involvement."

The message the aristocratic woman was sending her was clear. It did not matter that all eyes in the castle was on them, filled by uncertainty and bewilderment.

"M'lady? Please! I am not the one! _I am not the one!"_

Screaming.

She felt sick.

There was a lump in the center of her chest that actually felt painful.

_But... _Someone from the front of the crowd burst into tears... Loreli drew back her shoulders and blocked out the sounds. So engrossed that the muscles in her cheeks ached.

This was nothing new to what she'd had to encounter. No longer was she someone who would be swayed by the life of a single individual. Nor was she the same girl who, in the summer of her fifteen year, had suffered awkwardly broken arm and had nothing to lose...

_If she could...stay silent and endure this..._

_If she could only endure this... _Her grip on her gown was so tight she felt it burn.

She'd be...able to return?

In order to complete her mission.

Her eyes slit open.

"...Wait."

...She didn't know who was more astounded by it; herself, or the lady of the castle who turned to her in disbelief.

But like a dam that had experienced the initial crack within its walls, she was no longer able to stop.

Her legs drove her forward. The tension lifted from her arms. She faced the stunned expressions of all those around her, and returned them unabashedly.

With her eyes determined, her expression haughty. _"I. am. _Uchiha Loreli."

She shot a gaze in the lady's direction. In the feudal lord's direction.

...A smile that was not quite called a smile.

"There is no other."

* * *

**...**

**A/N:**

I don't know what to say. I think I'm expecting a lot of reader confusion...or something.


	43. Deceiver of Fools II

**A/N:** Yarrrrrrrgh! (pirate)

* * *

**Till You Die**

41 - _Deceiver of Fools II_

* * *

"You...Uchiha Loreli...?"

...

She didn't think the aristocratic woman was capable of such an expression. That dumbfounded look appeared permanently frozen on the lady's face.

The muscles in the woman's jaw worked, but the only thing she repeated was, "You...?"

The steward stepped forward, bent forward in a refined bow. "My lord, if she speaks true, then we have failed you in maintaining security of the castle, and deserve severe punishment for our neglect. All the same, to think that she had to audacity to violate three imperial laws and even commit high treason by being here!" His sharp, steely gaze fixated on her, then.

"Speak! What is your intention?" the steward demanded of her. "Is the head advisor's present condition your doing? Do you plan the same for our lord!"

...

_"Why is this happening?" "A clan mistress, she said?" "No, I thought she was some kind of healer." "Isn't Uchiha that infamous clan of ninja rumoured to be the size of an army?" "Preposterous, she can't be." "Even so, how would they dare?"_

...

...She breathed in, and everything returned to a faint buzz inside her ears.

"I. am. Uchiha Loreli," she repeated levelly. "The thing about me being the Lady of Stillwaters is a disguise and a lie."

"Outrageous!" The steward's exclamation spearheaded a torrent of alarmed murmuring.

"And _I." _Refusing to back down from something this slight, Loreli made the decision to gamble. "Am here upon the feudal lord's request," she said, and returning the steward's hostile glare, _"To oust the treason of the steward's family into light."_

Needless to say, she had astounded everyone who could hear.

"You-...what?" Even the lady of the castle was snapped back to circumstances by her bold statement. Her eyebrows went so high up it seemed they might reach her hairline.

"I act on behalf of the Uchiha clan," Loreli proclaimed, "and infiltrated traitor ranks. The steward's family unwittingly included me in their plans, and even promised away a key to the inner archives of Shujinchi Royal Library!"

It was incredulity, not fear, which caused the lady to gawk at her words.

"My lord," the aristocratic woman turned to the feudal lord. "Surely you recognize the last desperate attempt of a sinner who has been cornered. Is there any credit to her words?"

To the lady's chagrin, the feudal lord gave her no immediate response. Instead, his eyes stared indecipherably at the Uchiha clan's mistress.

"Well." With an indignant mask in place, the lady of the castle faced Loreli once more. "Pray show it to us:" she said darkly, tauntingly, "Your evidence. Or are you verily thinking of accusing us of being the orchestrators behind the poisonings?"

Her voice rising. "Then show us:" the lady demanded firmly, "Show us whether this 'fruit of eternity' you near offered up to our lord is as harmless as you claim! You can't?" The aristocratic woman didn't even bother to wait for a response.

"This is your evidence? Why then did you wait until now to profess your innocence?" the aristocratic woman demanded, rallying the people's animosity toward the young mistress of the clan. "If what you claim is true, would it not make sense to report to the lord the moment you encountered reason for suspicion?" the lady rationalized. "Well?"

...

Loreli clenched her jaw.

For what seemed like a long time she remained still, thinking hard. Trying to find a loophole in logic, trying for a valid way around it.

...

It was no use. Added onto her already existing pressure was the beginning stir of the castle guards' restlessness.

She fisted the skirt of her gown, palms sweating.

It had been her hope that the feudal lord would assist her.

Then, again, she could consider it fortunate that neither did he expose her.

...

"Well, can you answer to that or not?" the lady demanded. "Why do you confess only now!"

...Since it had come down to this...

She can only go all the way with the decision she'd made.

"Art of War, Chapter Two, Twenty-Second Stratagem," Loreli quoted, "A successful capture relies on the cutting off of all possible escape routes. As thus, one must lie in wait for the most opportune moment to strike."

It appeared that the lady had been feeling some tension, after all. Because now she visibly relaxed, and a painfully mocking smile came over her face. "What...? You mean to tell us _that _is the excuse you'll use...?" It must have been so disappointing that the lady couldn't even laugh about it. "I have..." she admitted "overestimated you. My lord-..."

The lady observed with some surprise that the feudal lord had moved to one side of the library. And as if ignoring her address, he reached out and pulled a book from the shelf.

_Art of War._

"My lord," the aristocratic woman said with a bow, as he flipped through the pages. "Your permission to-"

_Clinn-nnng-ck._

The sound of something metallic hitting the tiled floor stopped her.

She watched, voiceless, as the feudal lord reached down and picked up the small, metallic plate in his hands.

"My lord," the hoarse voice of the head advisor called out to him. The medics were helping him to his feet. "My lord, that is...?"

The feudal lord's hand closed around the plate. He said not a word, and headed to the back of Shujinchi Royal Library.

Confusion rippled among the castle's people, though they intuitively sensed that it was a good time to remain silent.

"...Are you an idiot?" the lady of the castle asked her.

More or less.

...

At the golden gates of Shujinchi Royal Library's innermost sanctum, the feudal lord lifted the small, metallic plate. And inserted it into a matching size indentation on the gate. _Click._

_-TickTickTickTickTick-_

It first started as the sound of the plate's tiny teeth rotating inside the gate. It was soon joined by the louder, and much more abounding sound of large gears being activated inside and outside the gate's golden surface.

"This can't be," the steward voiced his thoughts.

What came next was a low rumble: the sound of gates that haven't been used for a long time being pulled open sideways.

It was truly a magnificent sight, a mechanic devised not by mythical or shinobi arts, but by the knowledge of men. She doubted she'd live long enough to be able to witness something comparable ever again.

The feudal lord stopped it there, retrieving the round, metallic plate from the gate. With its absence, the gears reversed its course and the golden doors once again slid shut without a crack.

"This is indeed a legitimate key of the Shujinchi heritage," the feudal lord announced, turning to face them. "Lady Kurentanrei!"

All eyes went to the violet gowned woman.

"Where is the key entrusted to the steward's family?"

Loreli felt her heart drum loudly.

The violet gowned woman spoke to her. "You could have just kept silent till the end. You could have even had a monopoly. You realize that, don't you?"

Loreli kept her lips pursed.

To the audience, the lady of the castle responded, "My lord, is your desire to remove the steward's family so powerful...that it has even driven you to entrust your heirloom to the hands of shinobi?"

"Even if that be the case," the feudal lord demanded, "Lady Kurentanrei: where is the steward's family's key?"

The lady of the castle straightened, and sent a meaningful gaze in the direction of the steward. "The steward will go now to retrieve it."

Loreli gripped her skirt tighter.

"Escort him," the feudal lord commanded the guards.

Standing side by side, the two women looked straight ahead of them; at the same time keenly aware of each other's presence.

"This will not be over easily," the aristocratic woman warned her. "Are you truly an idiot?"

"I did try to warn you, my lady," Loreli replied. "Though, you interrupted: a man who can protect me..." she said.

Light smile. Just as the captain of the guards rushed back in.

_"...from myself."_

"My lord!" The captain hurriedly reported, "The steward has escaped! My men are currently pursuing him."

Ignoring the captain's words, and the sudden sounds of confusion from the crowd, the lady replied to her. "Is that so...? Well, you speak right. _You_ have just made a powerful enemy. One you would regret."

Their gazes met.

"And what of the key?" the feudal lord asked the captain of the guards.

"It-" Suddenly remembering his position, the captain dropped to his knees in a deep bow. "It wasn't there. My lord, we deserve the worst of punishments for our transgression against your lordship! We foolishly believed-"

The captain of the guards shot the lady a baleful glare. "Weren't you the one who told everyone that the lord had lost possession of his key! So, this was all your plan! And all along you were the one guilty of the crime! Poisoning the head advisor, and even the late lord as well, was your doing, wasn't it! You deceived us!"

Cries of indignity, of horror, and of disbelief broke out among the castle's people.

As for the lady of the castle, she ignored it all. Instead, her eyes remained on Loreli, her eyebrows lifting in a 'so what?' expression meant for her to face.

Loreli really. did not like this woman. "You are..." she said levelly, and a tad wistful "...not like her at all..."

"Guards!" The feudal lord's voice thundered. "Take the lady away."

"My people," the lord then turned to say to his audience, "I beseech you, return to your homes. This matter will not be resolved presently."

Loreli tried to calm her disquieting heart.

All around her, the sound of shuffling and whispers as the castle people filed out of the Shujinchi Royal Library.

...She will need to remain calm, to appear strong. She wouldn't make it through this if she couldn't get her arms to stop trembling.

"It seems I am in your debt, Mistress of Uchiha," the feudal lord said. The sound of the library doors sliding shut. A horrible sound of finality. Coughing, the head advisor came to his lord's side.

The lords bowed down to no one, but she could trust the sincerity in his voice. Hence, she gathered her courage.

"My lord." Loreli spoke. "The truth is, the lord's family has had lost possession if its key, am I not right?"

The head advisor's cough stopped. The castle guards who have remained listened in intently.

"_'Pearl of Eternity Lie in Dragon Teeth'_," she quoted from the inscriptions on the key, "was not originally on the surface of the two keys presented in any record. It was only inscribed on the lord's family's key since thirty years ago, when the previous lord first began the quest for immortality independent of the steward's family...are my deductions correct...?"

For a long moment it appeared that the feudal lord would not answer her, but at last, he did.

"You speak right. Thirty years ago, my predecessor, in order to prolong the Shujinchi lineage, gave up the lord's family's key, and thus had already lost the lord's family's right to the throne. Lady Kurentanrei, then only a concubine of the lord, was angered that he took a wife instead of naming their babe the next heir." There was little left to wonder what the lady had done with her anger.

"I grew up without the chance of knowing my father," the feudal lord said, "with only his head advisor at my side. I survived day by day carrying on the pretense both the steward's family and mine knew was fake: By being their puppet. Do you think me a coward...?" he repeated his question to her back then.

"From the beginning, I only carried on a tainted line. It was my acceptance that as long as the lady does not bring up the subject, then neither will I."

"My lord!" The captain of the guard's voice cried out painstakingly, and he fell to his knees with both hands on the floor. "The late lord gave up his pride to save his people, how can we condemn him for his actions? And how can we, to your lordship who had never known his father, accuse of carrying a tainted bloodline?"

"My lord!" The captain was seconded by another guard, and then another. Pretty soon every guard present was on his knees before him.

"Rise, good people," the feudal lord ordered them. "The Shujinchi Castle exists for the sole purpose of guardianship of the inner archives. To that end, the late lord has failed the inhabitants of the castle, and the people of the world."

He looked to her, then.

Perhaps he knew she wouldn't answer him if he asked, and so did not question her regarding how she came across the key. And who it's been with.

...

"I am indebted to you, Clan Mistress, for bringing the steward's family's treason into light. We would have not known otherwise that the steward's family's key is missing from our grasp."

Loreli swallowed.

"Then...my lord..." Her jaw tight and her breath stifled. She went down to a kneel. "I will trust that your lordship is a man of his word. The lord's family's key which you have relinquished to me: will you return it to me?"

Shock was evident on all of the guards' faces. The head advisor was about to speak, but the feudal lord forestalled him with the lifting of a hand. He was quiet as he looked at her.

'_Lord Shujinchi, your request has been heard.' _The exchange that had taken place at the very same location. _'As for the mode of payment, I request the lord's family's key to be relinquished to me before my time is used.'_

...

Indeed, it had been a gamble. Too great a gamble for her to want to resort to.

"Tell me, Clan Mistress: what had made you change your mind then? If you were not guaranteed certainty that the steward's family could not produce their key, your fate would have wound up worse than mine."

Quiet.

...The young woman made an expression as though half laughing at herself, and half anguished.

"...Because being accused of a crime one did not commit..." Loreli said, with a distant look in her eyes as she stared down at the floor.

_**"...is painful."**_

_..._

The feudal lord asked no further. She didn't think he would.

His sleeves raised.

"My lord," the head advisor inquired.

"To be able to hold the heirloom which belonged to my ancestors once in this life," the feudal lord said. "It is already enough for me."

Loreli blinked.

"Very well."

The small, metallic plate was tossed onto the floor before her. "I will keep to my word," the feudal lord declared. "This now belongs to you, Clan Mistress."

"My lord..." Loreli near stuttered. She picked up the small object into her hands.

A sense of overwhelming relief flooded through her.

"However." As if on cue, she found herself surrounded by a ring of spears pointed by the castle guards.

The feudal lord told her, "Though I be grateful for your service, the fact that you had violated three imperial laws had not changed."

"Uchiha Loreli," he announced, "One, for a feudal lord's servant to serve another without obtaining the permission of one's lord; Two, for a civilian to wittingly affiliate oneself with ninja; Three, for a member or affiliate of a shinobi clan to enter a feudal lord's territory without the lord's permission, I hereby am required to detain you. You shall be brought before the Council of Lords and be given a fair trial. These are the laws of the land, and I, required to maintain them."

Loreli rose. And went back down to a deep bow.

When she calmly rose again, she closed her eyes and replied, "...I understand." Loreli said so respectfully. "It is also the civilians' hope that the lords will uphold the laws this great country commands."

The young woman turned, ready to be escorted by the guards. They were tense. She noted with some interest that the nearest one to her had his arms shaking.

"Loreli."

She glanced back, at the feudal lord who called to her. She sent a questioning gaze.

"Serve me."

Loreli blinked.

Slowly...she regained a bit of her former energy.

"...My lord," Loreli asked him, "Do you know why the castle's inhabitants all supported Lady Kurentanrei...?"

He seemed surprised by the unexpected question.

Loreli continued by asking, "What do you think makes a good leader...? ...Can you answer me that...?"

A confident smile. Loreli declared, "It is _hope."_

"The hope that no matter _how weak, how pathetic, how diseased:_ a leader who would not give up on them!"

That's right. Even if her methods had been cruel, her intentions questionable; the lady of the castle had given them a direction forward. Out of the confusion, and isolation. A future to look towards.

"Your people didn't abandon you, my lord," Loreli told him loud and clear, _"You _were the one who gave up on your people!"

Perhaps this time her audacity was so unbelievable, even the head advisor was struck speechless.

"Young lord," Loreli addressed the feudal lord. "Return to fill your post in the Council of Lords. Lead your people through this time of crisis. If only you are able to do that, and only then, _I," _she said.

"...Might consider serving you..."

She inclined her head in respect.

"Then, Uchiha Madara," the feudal lord said just as she was half-turned away.

"Is he the kind of man who gives you such hope?" she was asked.

...

She breathed out a small, wry laugh.

"Sometimes I wonder if he is the most arrogant and domineering man alive," Loreli admitted. "But that pride, and that confidence," she said "...is also what causes his followers to entrust their lives to him."

_'Believe in me!'_

Even now, those words echoed through her mind.

"You ask whether he can give me type of hope I seek?" Loreli rephrased rhetorically. "The answer is _'no'."_

Instead, she lightly answered, _"...He commands it."_

* * *

...

It wasn't the dungeon they were taking her to. So where?

"In here," the guard captain ordered his men.

The door was a heavy metal door. She made note that it was to be held shut by a latch from the outside.

They escorted her to the doorway. She went in.

The door shut and latched behind her.

Immediately she pressed against the door frame, listening through the crack.

She could make out the captain's voice delivering orders, and counted the footfalls of what sounded like five or six guards moving away. Then, another three pairs of footsteps moving in the opposite direction.

It should mean that there were only two or three guards stationed outside the door, right...?

Loreli looked at her surroundings.

It was an unexpectedly normal looking setting. Not as lavish as the other rooms in the castle, but suitable for a questionable guest. Bed, chairs, desk, dressers, window...

She went to the window and pulled the shutters open.

Wind blew at her face. But on the window were vertical bronze bars with gaps barely large enough to let her fist through. She ran her fingers along the frame. The frame was a bit worn from the ocean wind, though. She could see the long drop to the ocean behind the bars.

Loreli turned around and looked at the furniture and bed sheets again.

...It was to be a restless night for Shujinchi Castle...

She rotated her neck for a bit, loosening her tense muscles.

...Well, then. Shall she get started?

* * *

**...**

**A/N:** Okay, I'm still skeptical no one got confused by the last chapter. I mean, even my editor got lost somewhere along the way...

But maybe I should start giving the readers a bit more credit...

So, with the revelations in this chapter, you've probably picked up a few questions...

They will be answered...soon...


	44. Deceiver of Fools III

**Littlekirara: **lol, I think I have a lot of expectation to write up to.

**danceallnight: **Your opinions are understandable, and I am most certain you are not the only reader sharing those thoughts. However, what you have pointed out are certainly not unintentional on my part, and is part of the writing style I have developed. It will most likely remain unchanged, at least for this story.

* * *

**Till You Die**

42 - _Deceiver of Fools III_

* * *

She was still tearing long strips of fabric with her teeth when she heard it.

What was that...? It sounded like...shouting?

Curious, Loreli approached the door and pressed her ear against the crack.

The guards outside her door were talking to one another, likely having heard it as well. Regardless, it seemed that they weren't permitted to leave their post.

...Loreli returned her attention to the task at hand, using one thin strip of fabric as a bandage for her finger.

She had gotten a large splinter earlier when she had smashed a leg off one of the chairs. The sound didn't seem to alert the guards, however. She didn't know whether she should feel assured by that.

Her bandaging done, Loreli pressed her fingers together a few times to examine her handiwork.

Good enough.

Grabbing the wooden leg she broke off the chair, she approached the barred window.

The bars were strong. She had tested them. There was no doubt that metal was stronger than wood, however...

There were ways to compensate for the lack of brute strength.

She wound up a long strip of cloth she tore from the bed sheets, and looped it around four of the metal bars on the left. The ends of the cloth she tied securely around the midsection of the wooden leg. It's been a while since she'd done this.

Using the wooden leg as leverage, Loreli began twisting it in a counter-clockwise direction. The cloth bunched up as it tightened and coiled, and pretty soon it strained against the bars it was wrapped around.

Still, she kept it up. Huff. The last time she did this, the bars had been of a poorer grade. Thank the heavens whoever had ordered furniture for Shujinchi Castle only ordered the top quality wood.

_Creak. _

That was the sound of the window frame creaking, but she ignored it and fought on with all her might.

Until her joints hurt and her breath ran out. She released.

Her arms ached, but there was now a gap the size of a hand span next to the crooked outmost bars bent from the strain. If she did the same for the other side, then maybe...

Without time to waste, Loreli went to work on it; repeating the same process on the bars to the right.

_Crack._

Loreli was surprised to hear the sound of wood splitting. The bottom end of a center bar had loosened. She could move it back and forth a bit.

Well, that certainly helps. She could now poke her head through and have a good look down below.

It was still light enough outside for her to make out the outline of the water far below. The only landings before the long drop appeared hazardous at best. She glanced up, and the nearest window was quite the distance apart.

No wonder they neglected the maintenance of the window frame. It wasn't like a normal person could expect to get out of here in one piece... Her aversion of height made her pull back before she could observe any longer.

She pulled back, and accidentally knocked her head against the loosened bar.

If only there was a way to free it. It felt pretty secure when she pulled on the bottom end as hard as she can.

The young woman let go, and turned to face the room again. She bunched up the rolls of cloth she had tied together.

Well, Loreli thought, not that it'll stop her.

She hoped.

* * *

A scream from the other side of the door startled the two guards standing watch in the hallway.

"What in the-?" They shot each other an alarmed look. Quickly, they raised the latch and entered, weapons ready.

Cold wind blew at their faces.

Furniture was piled up at the base of the open window, acting as anchor for a makeshift rope of cloth, which went through a gap between the bars that wasn't meant to be there.

"Shit!" one of them cursed, and they both rushed to the window and looked down.

The makeshift rope descended into darkness.

A sound from behind them caused them to turn around.

In time to see the captive young woman pulling the door shut behind her. "So long, boys."

Loreli latched the door shut and heard them banging their fists on the other side.

She had feared that hiding behind the door would've been too risky, but thankfully the door was too heavy to be swung all the way in the guards' haste.

Both ends of the hallway was quiet. She needed to make her way out before-

_Before-_

Pushing that thought out of her mind, Loreli went right. The size of Shujinchi Castle was grand, and she should be on the fourth floor. It would be a long journey, she knew. Now, if she could find a way down-

Guards at the stairs.

Loreli recoiled around the corner before they noticed.

There were plenty of places to hide if they were patrolling, but the two appeared stationed there.

She'd need a distraction.

A brush of cold air caused her to shiver.

Oh, that was right... Shujinchi Castle was built with impeccable defense in mind. Then...these covered objects beneath the castle loopholes...

As stealthily as she could, Loreli went to the other side of the hallway where the loopholes were. Dust had collected on the coverings, and she was careful while lifting up the bottom to avoid inhaling any.

Cannons...chained and rusty from decades of neglect. If there were cannons, then...

She searched underneath the other covered cannons, finding a metal crate beneath one of them.

The lid made a soft groan when she carefully opened it, but she was far enough that the guards wouldn't hear.

Gunpowder. There were no sign of matches anywhere. No wicks to use, either. However, there were plenty of lit lanterns attached to the walls.

Loreli looked around for something she could use.

A beautiful porcelain vase displayed on a nearby stand caught her eyes.

That'll do.

Once she filled the bottom of the vase with enough gunpowder, Loreli reached down to the hem of her gown and tore off a good chunk of her skirt. It would be in the way, anyhow.

She folded the fabric carefully and fitted the layers inside the vase, covering the gunpowder. She then reached up and carefully took out the candle stick inside the nearest lantern.

Hopefully the guards wouldn't think too much of a missing candle. And a vase.

...

The vase she set down on the far side of a marble stand further down the hallway from where the stairs were, in hopes of some of the explosion would be shielded. There was a high chance that the guards she had barred inside her room would be discovered, but it would buy her the time she needed.

Without further ado, Loreli dropped the candle into the vase and fled for cover.

...

...

...

_**FOOOM-!**_

The sound of porcelain splitting was louder than expected. A thick screen of smoke rose to the hallway.

_"What the hell?" _Loreli heard the approaching guards call out. Coughing from the gunpowder smoke, they sped right past where she hid herself behind one of the cannons, toward the direction the sound of explosion came from. She used the opportunity to run for the stairs.

A few minutes, ten minutes at the most. She had that much time to get to where she wanted-_oof!_

Without bothering to attempt an abrupt halt, Loreli flew right into a lone guard coming up the stairs. His lantern crashed to the floor.

That was close. If he hadn't been carrying that lantern, or if he had just reacted any faster, she might have found herself impaled on the sharp end of his spear.

He drew back in alarm. "Aren't you-?"

"You-you've got to help them!" Loreli pleaded. "Intruders! They came in from the room where I was held! The guards have temporarily contained them, but-"

Her heart skipped when his armoured hand clamped down on her arm, but it was only to steer her in another direction. "Keep going this direction and you'll be at the barracks. Alert the rest of the guards," he ordered, before adjusting his grip on his spear and dashing up the stairs.

Hm...so the barracks was in that direction. She knew where she needed to avoid, now.

* * *

...

She had wondered why there didn't seem to be any more guards in her way.

But, it had become clear the moment she approached the Shujinchi Royal Library on the second floor, and had seen the light flooding through its open doors.

If it were even possible, Loreli felt her heart begin to pound harder than it had done during the ceremony.

Her breathlessness from running suddenly forgotten, the young woman approached and entered.

The golden gates guarding Shujinchi Castle's deepest secrets were open.

Loreli gripped her gown, where the key of the lord's family resided. She swallowed. As...As she had feared.

A single source of light seemed to be coming through the open gates. She saw the twin key embedded into the key hole that was activated earlier during the day.

Ah...without realizing it, she had grasped hold of her badly shaking arm. No, she had no excuse to turn back, now. Not after coming this far.

"I was starting to wonder if you could actually make it," the male voice commented as she approached the figure from behind.

The young woman pursed her lips, summoning her resolve.

"...After you have sent me such an elaborate means of invitation," Loreli answered smoothly, "How can I possibly refuse..._Ikezoe?"_

_Sorairo Ikezoe. _

The one man whose name strikes fear in her heart, greater than any lawless warlord can.

...

"The 'fruit of eternity', is it?" He held the blood red fruit with his naked hand. And took a bite out of it. "Such a bitter flavour."

It'd be too unrealistic to expect him to fall prey to its poison.

"Well, the path to immortality is more distasteful than this," Ikezoe remarked, tossing the bitten fruit nonchalantly to the side.

His back still turned. "Loreli." The man wearing a thin hair band in his shoulder-length hair inquired, "How is your health?"

Gritting her teeth, the young woman replied stiffly, "Just say what you have brought me all the way out here to say."

He faced her with a chuckle, arms crossed over his chest.

"Call it the professional attitude of a lifelong medic toward his client," Ikezoe remarked. "You are, after all, _the blood of my blood."_

A violent shiver took hold of her.

Disgusting. "Don't make it sound like we're related," Loreli requested, jaw already aching from her tension.

"Still upset by what I've done?" the leader of the Sorairo clan asked, though he didn't sound genuinely surprised. "Your condition was dismal by the time I treated you," Ikezoe replied in a matter of fact manner. "I simply did what had to be done to restore your body's equilibrium."

Without her consent.

Conversationally. "Is it so bad?" the dashingly youthful-looking medic asked her. "With it, your childhood illness has been vanquished, no?"

Hateful.

"Humans are really such fragile creatures," Ikezoe commented, craning his head to one side as he looked about the chamber. "Thousands of types of poisons from the Sorairo clan alone can kill them within the minute," he boasted.

A smirk. His mischievous blue eyes met hers. "But the deadliest poison in the world," Ikezoe said.

Holding her gaze, the man inclined forward. _"Starts here." _Jabbing a thumb to the center of his chest.

And then lifting the hand to point at the side of his head.

_"And here."_

...

"The steward's family's key," Loreli said tonelessly.

"Have belonged to the Sorairo clan since the days of the previous Shujinchi lord," Ikezoe confirmed with a friendly smirk. "All it took was the first seeds of doubt, and that..." a chuckle in his voice "was what set off Shujinchi Castle's tragedy."

...

The incurable illness.

The Sorairo.

Disgusting.

"Why gaze at me with such hate?" Ikezoe asked with a pleasant chuckle. "You should know this all took place before I became the head of the Sorairo clan."

"What do you hope to accomplish by showing me all this?" Loreli demanded.

He slanted his head to one side, appraising her. "Aren't you curious? The secrets that laid entombed in these walls." Another chuckle. "Sadly, what you should be looking for is no longer here," Ikezoe told her. "A mission failed after all the effort you have invested for him, wouldn't you say? Loreli."

Hateful.

"Have you fallen for Uchiha Madara?"

Her eyes widened, skeptical of her ears.

...She pursed her lips.

"You _know," _Loreli replied solemnly, "that from the day five years past until now," and he did know; how ever could he not? _"I have only ever served _one _master."_

"Ah, yes...what was that about again?" Ikezoe remarked, tapping the side of his head with one finger. "Right." He remembered. _"The price of your sin."_

...Loreli had no retort for that...

Self-hatred.

"Not to worry," Ikezoe told her with ease. "There is a way to escape the Uchiha for good."

She didn't like...the way that was spoken...

"The Senju have agreed to provide you shelter in exchange for your knowledge regarding the Uchiha."

...

She could hardly believe her ears. The only thing which saved her from laughing at the absurdness was that she knew Sorairo Ikezoe did not joke about anything.

"So. Let me get this straight..." She didn't know how she was to react to this. Her eyes squeezed shut momentarily. "You...promised the Senju information..."

Loreli stared at the Sorairo medic. "...In _my _name?"

Sorairo Ikezoe.

_What gives you the right? _

_What gives-?_

As if having read her mind, the blue-eyed Sorairo medic reached behind him and picked up a scroll from the table.

"Loreli," he said, snapping the scroll open. "Answer to your edict!"

On the white paper was revealed a single seal. "The seal of your mistress, Princess Yuzuzu, daughter of Lord Yukino; surely you still recognize?"

It was the sound louder than a stormy ocean. She took a step back. Then another.

She was certain the way her facade crumbled was exactly what he had anticipated.

"That...can't be..." Loreli whispered.

Yuzuzu-hime's royal seal?

He lifted away the top of the lantern set on the table, and allowed the flame to lick at the scroll.

It burned. Swiftly burned.

But when the flames started turning the seal into ash, up went a pale, unmistakable blue smoke. _No..._

"Loreli," he demanded, "To whom does your loyalty belong...?"

She fell forward, down on her knees. Her long standing habit took over in her confounded state.

"I. serve. the princess," stated Loreli. Her fists clenched.

"From the very last drop of my blood, to the bottom of my last breath: all of it...belongs to the princess," she stated.

"Even if she were to wish for the world, then _I..._" Loreli said "will give it to her."

_But why...does the Sorairo...?_

"If it is Yuzuzu-hime's wish," she said."If it really is Yuzuzu-hime's wish..." she said.

Loreli spoke down to the floor. "Then I will obey without question."

_Why...? It doesn't make any sense..._

"She had always admired the Uchiha clan, and its current leader," Loreli stated, eyes on the floor. "What made her change her mind, now?"

"What, I wonder?" Ikezoe said with an amused chuckle. "Her favourite servant she had treasured more than the castle" Loreli felt her heart plummet "was abducted by a clan of ninja, a race said servant vowed to hate."

She flinched.

"On top of that, feeling responsible for bringing about this disaster, and guilt over her servant's suffering and abuse."

"...I don't know what you are talking about," Loreli said grimly. "...Do I really seem like a miserable wretch to you?"

But she had been clenching her jaw so hard, a headache had already formed.

"Oh?" A cunning smirk appeared on Ikezoe's boyish features. "Then the time you sported a bruised cheek when Uchiha Madara returned you to the stronghold...or that time you've nearly drowned on another one of your outings... You're saying that it is because a shinobi of his caliber had failed to prevent harm from befalling upon his woman...?"

This time. She couldn't even hear anything.

Couldn't even think. Could only manage a wide-eyed stare.

One question seemed to be circling round and round somewhere in the back of her mind. In her haze she couldn't seem to grasp its true form.

"Why pass up a perfect opportunity to pay him back for your pain?" Ikezoe asked, interrupting her thoughts. "You mean to tell me you did not desire revenge even once? You've forgiven him for what he did to your loved ones? Have you confused his twisted displays of affection for love?"

"You are...mistaken..." Loreli said, trying to summon her wits. "Madara-sama...has been good to me."

He laughed.

...

...She was afraid.

Icy needles pricked at her fingers.

She was afraid of this man.

"Shall I give you a bit of advice?" Ikezoe said. He leaned down towards her. "Don't fall for him. It will be painful," he warned, his words almost ominous.

"Uchiha Madara is someone who will never accept you as his equal!" Ikezoe told her. "Loreli."

She felt cold...so cold...

"Only _I. _can create that world in which you may be able to exist."

"You're lying."

...

In her state of confusion, she had nearly forgotten the most important thing: whether she was going through denial or not, Sorairo Ikezoe was not a man who could be trusted.

Loreli fixed him with a straight stare.

_"_I have been with the princess longer than I have with anyone in this world. _I. _am also the person the princess holds closest to her heart. Therefore_ I," _fisting her hands at her sides "should know the princess Yuzuzu better than anyone else," Loreli stated firmly. "She is not the type of ruler who would involve the fate of her beloved country because of a mere servant!"

"The soldiers from the castle were carrying a fake seal," Loreli recalled. "How do I know you didn't simply steal theirs?"

He chuckled with amusement.

_Shouts. _"In here!"

Loreli shot to her feet, heart thumping. The guards. She sneaked a glance at the Sorairo medic, who appeared nonchalant at their being discovered.

"Stop where you are! Who are you!" The captain of the guards approached first, followed by a large number of fully armed imperial guards. Even she felt a bit intimidated by the ominous presence of their spears aimed at the two of them.

"Trespassing upon Shujinchi grounds is a capital offense punishable by death. Step forward and identify yourself!"

For his part, Ikezoe ignored the guards' presence and calmly lifted up an arm to glance at his watch.

"Guards, take him!"

The Sorairo medic mused aloud, "Right about...now..."

What happened next was too fast for her to comprehend in the beginning.

There was a ripping sound. Then, all at once, a loud crashing noise as the castle guards simultaneously fell to the floor; their weapons rolling loose from their grasps.

What was-?

She half expected to see some kind of trap...some kind of mechanism that had gotten set off. But...none of them got back up.

She caught sight of one guard's vacant gaze. She paled even further.

_How?_

"Why don't you find out the truth for yourself: whether I am feeding you lies?" Ikezoe's voice entered into her awareness. "I'll even tell you something good."

_Criminal._

"Right now, while the Senju and Uchiha are battling in Lord Raidenko's territory, Lord Kiyano's castle has already been taken over by the Senju. However," Ikezoe explained easily, "Not as hostage."

_With such a contented expression._

"While on the surface hiring the Uchiha army to fight for him, Lord Kiyano is actually in league with the other lords in eradicating the Uchiha clan. And, when timing is right..."

What?

It was only then what he was telling her caught up to her.

He pressed a cold object into her palms. Her shaking arms.

"This tag will prove your alliance to the Senju. They will let you through."

She looked down at the Senju symbol inscribed onto its surface.

Before she could open her mouth to speak, he thrust a scroll into her hands.

"The map of Sorairo Valley," Ikezoe explained. "Take it in good faith."

What-...?

"Should you ever decide to stop me," the leader of the Sorairo clan said with a cunning smirk. "The location of the Sorairo base" his hand clamping down on her right shoulder, above where her arm had been once broken "and the antitoxin your body now naturally produces: both of which is required to destroy the Sorairo clan...is now in your hands."

"Come then," Ikezoe invited her. "Bring the wrath of the Uchiha clan." A cunning chuckle. "That is, if you are unafraid of what they may discover within the Sorairo archives."

"The secrets the ancestors of Shujinchi believed should fall into the hands of no ninja: aren't you curious what might happen...?"

He chuckled, full of sinister mirth.

A sound that was going to haunt her dreams for many nights thereafter.

"I wouldn't recommend dallying here much longer," Ikezoe advised. He was checking his watch again. "This place is scheduled to demolish in less than an hour." Taking the lantern from the table, he tossed it to the archival shelves on the side.

Flame.

"Do make sure you make it out by then," Ikezoe said with a smart, mocking bow.

Demolish...? Her fists clenched. To the place scholars across the continents have devoted their time and knowledge...?

"Sorairo."

Her arms shook, but she still called out to him.

"Answer me one thing." Loreli asked, "Why are you doing this?" To go as far as to instigate an irrevocable event that would shake the world. "Is it revenge on the Uchiha clan?"

...

She heard rather than saw the smirk on his face. "Revenge?"

He laughed, smoothing his hands over his hair as though he couldn't believe she said that. "What do I care about revenge on the Uchiha?" Ikezoe asked rhetorically, with a chuckle.

He sent back a long, mirthful gaze. "It's because _I'm..."_

Quirking a mocking eyebrow._** "bored."**_

* * *

...

The explosions occurred a few minutes after she had escaped from the castle gates.

Shujinchi Castle went up in flames, burning a beacon of white light which lit the surrounding sky.

...

She was too numb to feel anything more...

"My lady!"

It was the voice of Uchiha Murata, her shinobi guard. He appeared in front of her before she had noticed, and had gone down on one knee.

She took one glance at his worn out state and his injuries, and knew what must have happened to him.

But, to him Loreli only said, "...You're late."

"Are you unharmed, my lady?"

She responded instead, "Have you delivered my message to Izuna?"

"Izuna-sama," Murata reported, "has received your message. He will be taking care of the rest, and wishes for my lady to return to the stronghold as soon as she is able."

"We're not returning to the stronghold."

His eyes snapped up in surprise. "My lady?"

Loreli's expression gave nothing away as she returned his gaze.

"You and I...are going to Lord Kiyano's castle."


	45. Deceiver of Fools IV

**A/N: **First of all, thank you!

Second of all, I'm sorry!

I'll try my best!

** .kittys: **I do get into my characters' mindset, in a way. I think that's what 70% of my writing is about, and is also where I get into a lot of writer's blocks. I wouldn't say it's automatic though, since...ultimately...I am not them and it takes some thought to figure out what they would or would not do. Yes. My characters are my biggest obstacles.

**Ambrii: **I'm guessing Loreli's birthday is in September. Somewhere.

**Weirdo-Lover: **This story is planned to have a good amount of chapters to come. I can't make any promises, though...it depends on where the little voices inside my head take me!

**Tsukiyomi Zakuro: **If I used quotes from the Art of War, then they were probably paraphrased from Sun Tzu's military stratagems. Quotes from the Sage were just made up, if I remember correctly...

**It has come to my attention that some Naruto fans may have noticed a timeline flaw in this story. I shall take this opportunity to clarify:**

To put it in simplest terms, the story is meant to be read as being experienced by someone (Loreli) in the pre-canon past. The 'Great Shinobi War' or 'First Shinobi War' that is referred to by characters in this story is not the same 'First Shinobi World War' that is mentioned in the Naruto canon universe. That is due to this story being set back in a time where the people were uncertain if more wars were to come, so their name for the war I made up would change accordingly through history. Just to reiterate, the 'Great Shinobi War' I detailed in this fanfic is completely made up by me, and is meant to have no connection to the 'First Shinobi World War' mentioned in canon.

* * *

**Till You Die**

43 - _Deceiver of Fools IV_

* * *

Even from where they were, they could see the blatant green flags of Senju army flowing above the fortification walls.

"Impossible," Murata, her shinobi guard, muttered beneath his breath. "Kiyano Hisana's castle is near impregnable. How, in this short amount of time-..."

...The flags of Senju army flapped dauntlessly with the wind.

...-Beckoning.

"Not impossible," the young black-haired woman responded at his side. "...Not if there is someone of high caliber instructing them."

...She withdrew to the side, hugging her arms as she stared at the earth pensively.

"My lady, Izuna's vanguard should advance here no later than two days' time," Murata advised her.

...

"And to what end...?"

"You are no simple soldier, Warrior..." the mistress of the Uchiha clan turned to say to him. "A capable general as yourself should know better than to attack an enemy in its advantageous position."

Her scrutinizing eyes have taken in the fortifications.

If none of the Uchiha shinobi dispatched to safeguard the castle remained, just how powerful a force...?

"I am no military strategist," the young woman admitted, digging her heels into the earth. "But, even I know that once the window of opportunity has passed, it shall never come again."

...And when, if not now, would be the best to act; when the opponent is susceptible to the perception of invulnerability?

She gave only the briefest of hesitations. "I am willing to lure the enemy away from their stronghold."

"My lady!" He was quick to protest, before she had completed her sentence.

"We are dealing with the training and experience of a seasoned shinobi army!" Murata rebuked her proposal. "A day— one day at most, you wouldn't be able to deceive them on your identity past that! A defenseless woman as yourself-"

"Precisely because I'm a defenseless woman." She said to him. "And _precisely. _because they will find my identity."

Unflinchingly. "I can guarantee that within three days' time" she threw out her arm in emphasis "...I'll have the entire Senju army drawn out to these fields!"

A reluctant pause, speechless.

"But should you make the slightest miscalculation," Murata resumed upon quick recovery.

She spoke calmly. "The 'Indomitable General', that was your nickname on the field ever since you took up arms with the Uchiha army. I entrust you to send a message to Izuna posthaste. Just say that..."

A glance up at the sky. She continued, "A restive moon is shadowless. A wingless phoenix, masterless."

...

_'Will you refuse, Warrior?' _she grimly thought.

_...Do you know why I have chosen you, and only you...to be my right hand among all the Uchiha shinobi?_

_Do you have any inkling of the unspoken truce between your liege Izuna and I...?_

_...You couldn't have imagined..._

"Say your methods are fitting," Murata responded bluntly. "It is doubtful the Senju will simply welcome you with open gates. Or have you a way to avoid suspicion, my lady?" the perspicacious shinobi warrior challenged.

Her reply came forth: "I have."

His reaction was not one of surprise. After all, what else had he learned to expect from her, having served her this long?

"Warrior," she commanded from him, "From how far a distance can you maintain an illusion?"

...

"That aside," Murata replied frankly, "The Senju clan has no shortage of experts on genjutsu. I alone cannot deceive all their defenses."

"I never said you'd have to fool all their warriors," the mistress of the Uchiha clan replied. She looked at him with that tiny, cryptic smile.

"...You just have to cast genjutsu on" a slight arch on one delicate eyebrow "_one_ person."

* * *

"Captain."

The shinobi in the room straightened in salute to the powerfully built man entering from the hall.

"The situation is under control," the lieutenant reported to their superior. "We thought to report it to you nonetheless."

The captain had said so himself at the start of the campaign: not even the slightest deviation can be disregarded.

A curt nod of acknowledgement to his men. The shinobi captain approached the thick wooden bars of the dungeon.

From the moment they have apprehended her, she had collapsed unconscious and was showing no sign of recovering on her own.

"A courtesan, she was presented as," his subordinate offered as explanation. "Came with a lone bodyguard. Such an elementary ploy can't fool anyone."

"And the bodyguard?" the captain responded.

"Shadow clone," he was informed. "Escaped the moment we exposed him. This poor girl was probably swept unawares into his schemes."

"You're feeling amused?"

...

Immediately, the place had fallen silent as a tomb.

"A potential spy came close enough to gauge the strength of the castle defenses. What's more, he made a clean escape," their captain's no-nonsense tone admonished them. "Is this the professionalism of the Senju clan?"

Despite that their captain was younger than some of their sons, no one raised a word in defense.

"Ryou, Hiroki, Shikawa's squad will reinforce Wind Ward, East Cliff, and Hawk Beak Pass respectively. They are to continue operating in a mutually-reinforcing configuration," he ordered. "Patrols will switch between fourth and fifth formation until the fifth hour."

"Ninjutsu experts skilled enough to evade our sensors' range are only few in a clan," the Senju captain added. "If we can get a hold of one, that clan's techniques are as good as ours."

He was promptly obeyed. "Understood, Captain."

Not only cautious and dutiful, but also astoundingly perspicacious; it was no wonder their leader Senju Hashirama felt he could entrust the success of their campaign to their captain.

"Wake her," he ordered with a nod to the unconscious girl behind the bars. "I shall interrogate her myself."

"Yes, Captain," his men replied.

It took up to days for victims to recover naturally from genjutsu. Depending on the skill of the caster and the willpower of the victim, complications can arise ranging from light grogginess to permanent retrograde amnesia. They have not the time to wait for her to come to her senses.

"Girl." Exercising caution, the shinobi who went inside the cell sat her up. "You need to wake now." He reached up and was about to pat her cheek, and then did a double take.

"What sensed you?" His momentary hesitation did not escape the Senju captain's notice.

"Just now," the shinobi reported. "It was diminutive: I felt a slip of chakra."

Remnants of sloppily cast genjutsu? That was not an uncommon occurrence.

"Girl, open your eyes."

...

Slowly, deep brown eyes slid open.

Not a girl, the shinobi captain realized instantaneously. A..._worldly woman. _

Though he had been misguided by her slight figure, those eyes he knew did not belong to a mere girl.

"Woman," he said. "Have you come to your senses?"

..However, she was slow to react. Most aggravatingly slow.

...

In fact, he had started to question whether she was dumb when she finally...finally budged.

...And a delicate hand raised to her forehead.

"...What...?" She spoke as soft as a sigh. Yet her words were alarmingly clear. _"Have I gone and murdered someone this time...?"_

* * *

...In her dream there had been shadowy silhouettes and marks of fire.

The young woman had half expected them to be there when she woke, but alas, only the dark and silent ambiance of a burial ground drowned out her senses.

Unnaturally silent.

She snapped up her head and saw doubles of her surroundings from the sudden movement.

What little she was able to see was nauseating to make sense of.

What...where was this...?

...

"Woman," the voice again said. It came from somewhere ahead.

She could roughly make out that there were more of them in the shadows, glimpsed by the flickering light of the torches. Like that, making their presences known without revealing any detail.

"Do you recall how you got here?" their leader boomed.

The young woman felt her scalp, trying to find the source of her splitting headache. "...Let me guess..." she said slowly "...you bludgeoned me over the head and brought me here...?"

...Just a little while ago she had figured out that this wasn't her lord's, Yukino-tono's castle dungeon. At least she knew the castle hadn't been taken over, and that her princess was likely in a safer place.

Even though she had no recollection of how exactly she ended up here.

...

"State your identity. As well as the one who was with you."

...

So...they didn't know who she was...? That certainly crossed a chunk of possible scenarios off the list. Then why detain her? And they mentioned someone with her...?

Could it be...

"Ah." The young woman scoffed softly. "I get it..."

Her knees threatened to give. Her back threatened to sway. But she stood on her own nonetheless, just the way she had always been taught.

A cool little smile. "You got the wrong one. The other one escaped, didn't she?" If she had strength she might have chuckled in goading. "Why, it must be have been just a _little embarrassing_ for you..."

"You." Hostile response. "Are you in league with the other?"

"...What are you saying..." she said with a cryptic smile. Now standing before the bars, she viewed him critically. "...So, whose men are you?" she asked, mentally checking off the list of figures who could've wished her mistress harm. "The Hakuba? The Biyouri? Don't tell me...the Yamazu?"

_..._

It was the tip of a katana she found beneath her chin.

"I am listening..." she clearly said. "Your terms?"

"You will give us information on the other one," he said.

She then simply replied, "As if I would."

The blade pressed threateningly into her neck. A cold trail trickled down. "Do you even know what it means being an accomplice to ninja?" the figure demanded, formidably. For a split second she thought his eyes were red. "This land is not so kind to those who disregard its most sacred laws."

Frown. "Ninja?" Of course, that one word popped out at her, even before she processed the rest of the sentence. She rubbed her head, trying to make sense of what he just said.

"You deny it? With clear evidence of ninjutsu usage, you won't be able to use that defense."

She lifted a hand, a gesture for him to slow down. "...Just...a moment..."

Why did it sound like they were going on about separate things?

"Captain! What is the meaning of this!" an indignant voice timely interfered. "All inquiry must be made in presence of a retainer. Have you forgotten our lord's conditions?"

Something—had she not imagined it—bright and completely out of place flashed in the corner of her eyes. If she hadn't mistaken it, there was only one nobleman she knew of who wore that obnoxious yellow. One of Kiyano's loyal retainers: the cruel and powerful feudal lord's—Kiyano Hisana's retainer.

"Report back to Lord Kiyano," the captain responded as the young woman withdrew a step, "It's just a minor matter that will be dealt with swiftly."

...

The nobleman's skeptical eyes landed on her.

Winter of her fifteenth year. The only instance where they have met was when he came to Lord Yukino's castle with an ultimatum demanding the then weakened forces of Yukino Touhito to swear vassalage to his lord. The twelve years old Princess Yuzuzu became a helpless pawn ensnared within their political gamble.

Ever since, between the two feudal lords there existed bitter tension, and rivalry.

"Who is this?" She already knew that there was no avoiding the meddlesome man heading her way. Sure enough, as soon as his beady eyes squinted hard at her-

_"You-!" _Though his voice was muffled by the sleeve he used to cover up his nostrils, the recognition in his eyes was undeniable; as well as the convicting finger he pointed her way.

"Head servant of Yukino Touhito's estate, Lo-"

_**"My." **_

One word, but spoken with a weight that resonated throughout the dungeon.

She raised her sleeve with mock coyness. _"...It's been a long time _since someone's last used that line on me," the young woman remarked wryly. "...You would compare me to Princess Yuzuzu's First Attendant, who is rumoured the _most_ _beautiful in the land?" _

...A tinkling laugh fell from her lips. Spurred by the bewildered look on his face, she pressured, "Truly there are better settings and time for such...pursuits, my lord."

Judging by the embarrassed flush across his cheeks, it was doubtless that his confidence had been shaken. That came as no surprise: Years had passed since he had paid that foreboding visit to the castle. She had been recuperating, and not yet versed in the ways of politics and men.

"Nay, myself is in the service of another lord," she boldly claimed. Quickly, her mind sifted through the list of households in the area whose masters are known to have a penchant for women.

"Which lord's?"

The jailer had spoken. The one who had begun interrogating her earlier. She knew just by looking he was to be unlike the retainer. His eyes held clarity, and discernment.

"Prithee, tell me you hadn't stolen me with no awareness of my station," she said haughtily, keeping to her charade. "That explains it, then: Master would be incensed when he finds me gone."

"You are quick to presume, woman," the jailer replied. "We have no hand in your predicament."

"And I suppose I came to your dungeon of my own accord, is that right?" she retorted dryly.

...Well. Normally, wouldn't they be far more interested in learning the name of her patron, rather than correcting her misconception?

Could it be that...

She peered through her lashes first at the retainer, then at her jailer. "Shall I give you the name of he who owns me?" she asked with a small, knowing smile.

It was mere speculation, but it appeared to her that these men were mercenaries owing no allegiance to the castle's lord. Better yet, neither side was certain enough of her identity. This would be to her advantage.

"Knowing him, it shall not be long ere someone comes to fetch me. You need only give him my name."

The retainer was just about to ask, but her jailer intervened, blocking her from sight. His dark stare weighed down on her.

"You will go."

She sensed the surprise from more than one of his fellow mercenaries.

The feudal lord's retainer, in contrast, was audibly protesting: "Halt right there! You would make decisions on my lord's behalf?" He advanced a few paces and looked like he was about to say—or do—more, but was jostled back as if he hit an invisible wall before him.

The interruption was pointedly ignored by the jailer. "However, whatever fate that befalls you outside these gates," he warned, dark eyes unsympathetic, "we will not be held accountable."

Only a cool smile answered him.

* * *

"Will you not reconsider?" his lieutenant asked him in a covert manner, eyes forward on the narrow passageway leading outside the dungeons.

"Take a good look," the Senju captain responded. "Does that look to you like a woman who no one will be searching for?"

...

The captain was right... The way she conducted herself belied a history of cultivation and strict upbringing. Not to mention that beauty.

"Nonetheless," his lieutenant asked him, "Would it not be better to have her identity confirmed when someone indeed retrieves her?"

"...You forget our circumstance," the Senju captain admonished his subordinate. "We are but uninvited guests in the Land of Fire: A simple offense to an influential figure will ruin our clan's chances of securing a foothold. That is exactly what the clans of this country should hope for, and let us not forget _'what' _has brought her here."

The lieutenant bowed his head in understanding. "Can she not be a spy? Though her chakra is neither noteworthy nor refined, it can hardly exempt her from being a practitioner of taijutsu."

The captain paused in his tracks. "It will probably be quicker to show you," he decided.

"Captain?"

The Senju captain turned and went back down the steps, until he came to stand before her.

"Wh-" She had hardly time to react when he grabbed her forearm. And swept away her footing.

She screamed-

Off-guard and utterly helpless, it was a terrifying fall down. One of the rear guards stepped up and easily broke her fall.

"No trained reflex," the Senju captain said as a matter of fact. "Not a ninja."

...

Her mouth opened, and closed. If not for her blindfold she would be gawking at him. If she were not stupefied, there were a number of regrettable things she would have said.

She recovered her voice soon enough, and the first thing that was said:

_"...What...so you were _ninja...?"

* * *

...

They have noticed she had fallen into pensive silence, ever since they left the dungeons.

It was faint...but there was also something else emanating from her.

A subtle aura of...hatred.

"Stop!"

From behind them, a multitude of footsteps rushed past. Lord Kiyano Hisana's personal elite guards surrounded the woman in their midst, flanking her with their spear blades.

The yellow-robed retainer pushed through, positioning himself in front of the guards.

"By order of our lord, you are hereby refused leave." He snapped his fan in her direction. "I advise you to not resist."

She stood with her back tall and straight, and with not a shred of fear penetrating the mask of her face.

Slowly. "Kiyano-sama...has?"

What was with this reception? The shinobi of the Senju clan all watched, mystified and vigilant.

"Lord Kiyano," the retainer said to her, with a pointed glare at the shinobi captain, "has questions to ask you. We are to bring you to him at once."

Was she some kind of figure of importance after all? This...small and delicate woman?

"That is just as well." The black-haired woman had spoken; an unexpected response. Her deep brown eyes slanted a guarded look over her shoulder, and she surprised with her steady compliance.

"I, too, have questions I would like answered."

* * *

The Senju captain knelt, the shinobi behind him following his example.

"You have summoned us, my lord?"

The warlord Kiyano Hisana regarded down at them with disdain, as he was wont to do.

Next to the lord's dais sat the woman, silent and still as a live doll.

_'Captain, regarding what you asked me to look into: Yukino Touhito is indeed known to have a female head servant, and by coincidence the Uchiha-...'_

Whatever transpired between her and Lord Kiyano in the past hour, they were forbidden to know. Yet the woman was visibly different from before, despite the visage of impeccable beauty she made.

There was the tightness in her lips, the rigidity in her bones. The dampness on her skirt where her heated palms have rested.

To describe it in ninja terms it might be called...

A killing intent.

"Bring him!" Lord Kiyano, their patron, barked. "The captain of those traitorous Uchiha!"

Intuitively the shinobi's eyes went to the enigmatic woman at the feudal lord's side, knowing she was somehow the catalyst for the command. He found her gazing dispassionately on a spot on the floor.

"As you command," the Senju captain obliged, signaling to the others. They rose and were gone in a flash. He alone kept vigil over the woman.

_'...-and by coincidence the Uchiha's new clan mistress is also rumoured to have served under a feudal lord.'_

Her gaze flickered at the commotion brought in by the appearance of the prisoner.

Uchiha Yuushun: an expert defender well versed in using genjutsu to disrupt enemy formations; he had nevertheless been overcome by surprise and their numbers.

"...Oh...?"

The woman at the feudal lord's side spoke with cool interest. A voice that chilled to the bones.

"How can mere slips of paper be the only things that bind him?"

...As though reacting to the sound of her voice, the Uchiha shifted ever so slightly.

"These seals are stronger than any chain," the Senju captain reported, referring to the seals that immobilized the enemy shinobi's limbs and covered his eyes. Thin black spikes protruded from the chakra points on the prisoner's body. In his state he couldn't even stand on his own. "It is impossible for him to utilize his strength."

"Speak!" Lord Kiyano thundered. "Admit!" he demanded. "Your wretched clan plotted to backstab me!"

The Uchiha was resolute in his silence, dignified in his kneel.

"Senju!"

The Senju captain reached for one of the black spikes, pushing a sliver of his chakra through it.

Their prisoner bent forward in a soundless cry.

"Answer him," the Senju said. "Unless you are prepared to have your chakra points permanently severed."

Uchiha Yuushun's lips curled back in rage, but none of his previous insults and false accusations came forth.

"A powerless shinobi is as good as dead to his clan," the Senju captain warned him as he activated the seals on the spikes. The prisoner's entire body convulsed with pain, not coming externally but within. Many episodes had the Uchiha endured already, and his throat was raw from the strain. Coughing uncontrollably, he spat out blood.

"You Senju!" the feudal lord bellowed in disgust. "You address yourselves as ninja when you cannot get even one lowly commander to spit out intelligence? How many days has it been!"

"My lord." The captain dropped to one knee. "As he is a strong genjutsu user, his restraint is greater than most. I assure you that w-"

A fist was slammed to the floor. "Don't tell me I have to do this myself!" Lord Kiyano roared.

She got up.

"Useless."

"It is...useless, my lord."

To the Senju's surprise she spoke and acted without permission, yet the feudal lord condoned it as though it was to be expected of her.

"...No amount of torture will get a ninja to talk," she said, stepping toward them. "One might as well" grabbing the sword from an astounded castle guard beside her _"remove him."_

The sound of metal striking against metal.

Her dark eyes rose to meet his.

"This Uchiha knows information vital to us in this war," the Senju captain offered in explanation. "I cannot allow him to die."

They stood like that a bit longer: his eyes uncompromising, hers unfathomable.

Finally she released the sword, letting it drop to the side with a clamour. "Hmph."

She turned around.

...

The Uchiha's clan mistress? The captain glanced at the notch in his armguard. There had been no hesitation in that swing. It had been to kill.

"Why not simply revive him like you have done with the witnesses! All you need is a sample of blood!" Lord Kiyano remarked with impatience. "The dead can tell no lie, isn't that what you told me!"

She paused. And glanced back.

The Senju captain replied, "I cannot make them speak what they themselves do not wish to tell."

...

"Oh...?" The woman raised a sleeve to her face, but that hardly hid the mocking cruelty in her eyes. "...Seems like a tasteless...and _useless_ technique..." she said coolly.

What was that? That knowing glint in her eyes just now...

"I tire of this, my lord." She had returned to her spot next to the dais. "Where be the members of your council? I have yet to meet them."

"They are gathered!" Lord Kiyano gestured to the messenger. "Bid them to enter!"

The Senju took that as their cue to remove the prisoner from the hall. Uchiha Yuushun allowed it wordlessly, masking the true extent of his distress as a shinobi of his rank was expected to do.

As if sensing the captain's attention on her, the black-haired woman gave him an overt stare.

The edge of her lips curved upwards.

He wasn't imagining things.

Lord Kiyano's retainers shuffled in uniformly. Bowed down uniformly.

"We pay our humble respects to our lord."

"Lift your heads," the feudal lord commanded. "Behold the new head servant of my household."

His bewildered retainers regarded up at the woman with expressions ranging from surprise, disbelief, curiosity, to downright fear.

"My lord," the woman said in midst of their awestruck silence. "My previous master feared the influence I wielded over his household. And what," she said coolly, "of you?"

"Why you-!" One outspoken retainer was audibly outraged at her way of addressing his lord.

"If your lordship is serious about making me head servant," she said, ignoring the outcry, "Give me full reign of the castle."

"My lord!" came the protests.

While the shinobi were silent and without say in the matter, they were just as opposed to the idea. Complete reign of the castle included the fortress' security, which was currently entrusted to the Senju clan out of necessity, but not without many restrictions. If the feudal lord approved of her request, there would be new complications.

But whatever relationship existed between the two, it could not have been simple: Lord Kiyano Hisana stroked his beard, scoffing, "Do as you will."

"You all heard that?" Slowly, she rose. "On pain of death will my orders concerning affairs of the castle be obeyed. Questioning me will be the same as questioning your lord."

Her eyes shifted in the direction of the Senju.

That a smile so beautiful could be so cold; it was the first time the Senju captain found it possible.

"Then, my first order of business is..."

The shinobi found himself stiffening at the sight of her triumphant smile.

"To relinquish all authority on the matters of defense and security to the Senju clan. This order shall be irrevocable."

**What-?**

More than one bowed head snapped up in shock.

"Absurd!" All caution cast aside, the eldest member of Lord Kiyano's council shot up. "That is essentially handing the castle over to the ninja! My lord-"

"And so?" she questioned lightly. "Had it not been for the Senju, would any of you still be alive when the Uchiha clan betrayed you?"

Again with that cold smile. "...Or do any of you honestly believe that your soldiers are a match for an elite shinobi clan?"

"She could be one of the Senju!" another member of the council exclaimed. "Be they my last words, but I will speak! My lord, this isn't like your usual method of handling things!"

"Toshio is right," the eldest agreed, worry knotting his brow. "I beg you to reconsider, Kiyano-sama. Recent happenings are far too suspicious, and will reflect unkindly upon your lordship. As if it is not obvious-"

—_Slap!_

Nonchalantly, she folded her fan. "My," the black-haired beauty said with a light smile. "...I thought a fly was buzzing about here. It is just you, Manabe-dono?"

Shock faded into livid anger as the retainer beheld the female who had just slapped him with all her might. "You promiscuous bitch!" he spat. "Is it you, you who had done this to our lord?"

She raised her chin haughtily. "Are you going to let them keep insulting me, my lord?"

"Manabe! Toshio!" The castle's lord subdued all further protest with his thunderous command. "Daring to question my orders, I hope you are prepared for the consequences! Guards!"

Instantaneously the feudal lord's personal guards closed in on the two, restraining them in a matter of seconds. Kiyano Hisana was infamous for cutting down any who stood in his way, and it appeared his own retainers were no exception.

"...That's no fun, my lord," the woman said, ever the difficult one to please. "I should like to play with them myself..."

Lord Kiyano rose with a snort. "Then handle it yourself! I am retiring to my chambers. Be sure to play me some tunes after you're finished here!"

She went down to a bow of exquisite loveliness. The feudal lord turned one last glare upon his court before stalking off with loud, petrifying steps.

The woman was the first to rise. "That was your dismissal, gentlemen."

A collective shudder spread through the retainers, all save the two condemned men who renewed their tirade of insults at her. At her signal, they were dragged away by the guards. And on that cue the other retainers quickly excused themselves.

The need for their presence at the hall should have ended there, but the Senju captain stepped forward. "What are your orders regarding those two men?" he questioned.

Skeptical, he was very skeptical about this woman. Her intentions were erratic, unclear. It had not been a waste to order his lieutenant to look further into her background.

"...What are you saying...?" She regarded him with her light mocking gaze. "Disturbance of peace is a matter of the castle's security" she said "...and that is under Senju's jurisdiction now." The black-haired woman nonchalantly examined her nails. "...Ah, why should I be bothered with trifling things like these?"

Yet she had requested that authority, herself, hadn't she? The Senju captain felt, not for the first time, the stirrings of dislike for this woman. No doubt the feeling was mutual: her vindictiveness was as clear as day to him, in stark contrast to all else about her.

"In that case," the captain responded by going down to one knee, "I, Senju Tobirama, will guard this castle with my life."

She looked to him.

No ingenuity in acting could have concealed that split-second, instinctual look of alarm. And she, herself, seemed to have realized her flaw.

"Tobirama...?" she asked tonelessly. "Senju clan's tertiary commanding general, and rare ninjutsu genius..._that _Tobirama...?"

As he had observed. She was far from being clueless.

"Seeing we are working toward a common goal," said the Senju captain, "Would it be imprudent to request your name?"

...

She hesitated, expression undecipherable, but only for that brief moment.

"What...? Have I not already told you...?"

Her pretty lips curved upwards.

"Loreli," she informed him, her head tilting haughtily. "It's Loreli."

A small, wry smile.

"...Not that I care if _you _remember it."


End file.
